How the Coldest Inhabited Place on Earth (Oymyakon) Attracts Extreme Tourists

The village of Oymyakon (Yakutsk), located a few hundred kilometers from the Arctic Circle, is known as one of the most extreme travel destinations on the planet Earth.

Before we continue, please take a look at this quick video presentation:



Extreme tourism to the coldest town on Earth - Oymyakon

But, while some adrenaline junkies just decide to visit the coldest place in Russia, there are several hundred of local residents, who live and work in this village all year long.



Although the number of extreme tourists, who visited Russia’s Oymyakon, is still below a thousand visitors or so (but this number includes a good deal of celebrities), there is enough photo evidence to see how cold it is out there and how cold-loving people spend their time there.



The village of Oymyakon is located on the left bank of the Indigirka River, in between the mountains. Due to such location the cold air trapped by the mountains, which makes the severe Yakutsk weather even more unbearable for over 600 village dwellers. Most of village dwellers are reindeer herders, cattle breeders and fishermen.



Visitors of this village usually say that it is not much different from an average Russian town, as it has a well-developed infrastructure for a settlement in such a cold region: there are shops, bakeries, a kindergarten, a school, a music school, a bank branch and a small hotel for excited tourists.



On January 26, 1926, Oymyakon became known, as the international Pole of Cold, as this was the day, when the temperature reached its lowest point in history - −71.2 °C (−96.2 °F).



Nowadays, this village is known as only one of Russian Poles of Cold because there are colder places in the world map (but Oymyakon is still the coldest inhabited place in Earth).



The name of the village is translated from Yakut (Sakha) language as "Never-freezing water", probably, because of the natural hot spring, which is found nearby.



The presence of a hot spring in the region, however, doesn’t influence the temperature in Oymyakon, as the average temperature in winter here never rises above −40°C (−40°F [fun fact, this is the only temperature, which is equal in both Celsius and Fahrenheit]) and the winter season spans over 9 months.



During short summers people enjoy white nights, as in the winter the length of the day is about 5 hours. Due to the climate changes, summers here are relatively hot. The average July temperature is +14,9°C (58°F), and the absolute maximum in Oymyakon was 34,6° C (94°F).



Due to the aggressive climate of the region, the working in agriculture here is impossible, so the vegetables and fruits are brought here by air.

Image credits:

1) www.inosmi.ru/photo/20150120/225672340_225663831.html
2) www.bigpicture.ru/?p=367801