Cape Schmidt

We got underway early, just after dawn. After several tens of kilometers pushing through the tundra, we came upon a well-traveled winter road. Coal transporters use this section of road to deliver fuel to all the nearby settlements.

The first of these settlements we reached along this stretch was Polarniy, located right on the coast of Arctic Ocean.  From there it was another 80 km to Cape Schmidt. This section of road proved to be quite complex. Fog and deep snow slowed down our advance and only just before Schmidt did the going get easier. Several kilometers from town there was a marker – the 180th meridian. So if we were to head directly north from here, across the north pole and straight ahead from there, we would eventually arrive in Greenwich. Here we were, trying to travel as far east as we could and we ended up in the Western hemisphere!

Cape Schmidt greeted us with strong winds and light snow. A walk out to the tip of the cape proved to be somewhat less than pleasant – the wind nearly blew us into the ocean.

Cape Ryrkarpiy, later known as Irkarpiy, and then Northern, and finally Cape Schmidt, has seen a bunch of legendary people over its history. Semyon Dezhnev was here, as were James Cook, Nordenskjold, and Schmidt with his crew on the Chelyuskin. There are separate monuments to Cook and Schmidt here. Cook looks similar to Baron Munchausen while Schmidt looks more like Lev Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana. 

It was already dark when we set out on the winter road towards Iultin and Egvekinot. We were in a hurry as a cyclone had been approaching the coast. Visibility fell to 5-7 meters, the snowfall got heavier, and the winds picked up. After traveling only 20 kilometers we decided to stop for the night. The winds outside our windows got stronger and stronger, and it was very cold.