Iultin - Amguema - Egvekinot

We woke up early, drank some tea, and slowly got moving. We felt sure that the cyclone would catch up with us. We only got away from it around lunchtime, when we drove onto the Iultin tract, at which point we realized we’d gotten lucky and avoided the worst of the storm. The winds died down, it looked sunny. The only thing that succeeded in spoiling our mood was the upset stomach that everyone came down with. We cured the epidemic with the kind assistance of activated charcoal.

After noon we arrived in Iultin, Chukotka’s own ghost town.  The settlement never quite flourished after it was set up as a center for tin mining and processing, and this city of several thousand was abandoned in 1993. The residents departed in haste, almost like an evacuation, and took with themselves only what was necessary. Afterwards, the city died…

Our anxiety only grew after we passed through the town’s barren streets and through a mountain pass, where the road rose sharply uphill, past a cemetery, and then along a cliff. The dazzling whiteness of the snow meant it was not always possible to see the edge of the cliff. We moved slowly and carefully. The ghost town behind us said goodbye with unblinking eyes, as represented by the empty windows of its buildings.

As soon as we passed, the winds picked up. Visibility dropped to 1-2 meters. Andrey got out of the car and led the expedition further. Our speed was reduced to that of a pedestrian. At the site of an impassable bridge, the trail turned off into the tundra. There were markers along the trail at a distance of 2-3 meters from each other, but only the nearest one was visible. These were the remains of the storm that had raged in the Amguema tundra the day before. The tail end had caught us.

We made a short stop in Amguema, which has been completely rebuilt over the past few years. The village provided a unique visual treat – a town full of contemporary well-built housing, with all of the necessary infrastructure, way out here in the tundra.

The final 80 km to Egvekinot were quickly traversed. Along the way, we crossed the Arctic Circle for the second time.

It was already dusk when we arrived in town. We had arranged comfortable lodging for the night – our own two-room apartment, graciously provided by Muslim Abakarov, the head of Chukotkommunkhoza in Uelkal.