[Katja]

Are you keen for a different type of adventure?
Ice skating on Lake Baikal in Feb/March 2015

Lake Baikal in Siberia freezes over every year and then sports some stunning smooth black ice and ice caves with some stunning icicles. I would like to see and photograph them and skate on the frozen lake using Scandinavian long distance touring skates. No climbing planned.

My idea is to fly to Irkutsk, then transfer to Listvyanka and skate for ~280km on the western shore of Lake Baikal to Olkhon Island. We would skate for 8 days (~40km/day), then do an excursion and day trips on Olkhon Island on day 9-11 and transfer back to Irkutsk on day 12. In between we would stay in tourist accommodation at the lake edge or tents (thought night time temperatures can drop to -20 degrees, so I was advised against that).

Dates: Leave NZ on 23 Feb 2016, Skate from 27 Feb to 5 March. Back in Irkutsk on 9 March

Costs: US$ 2300 – 2750 depending on how many people in the group (I aim for 2-4 people) plus flights Z – Beijing – Irkutsk ~NZ$ 1600

Optional: Trip afterwards with the Transmongolian railway from Irkutsk to Beijing via Ulan-Bartor with a side trip to the Gobi Desert, fly home from Beijing.

Sounds like something you’d like to do? Drop me a line!
kriedel(dot)adventure(at)gmail(dot)com

Currently I am in contact with an Australian tour company (56thParallel [www.56thparallel.com]) who would help with gear and logistics and would also provide a guide.

To wet your appetite: here is a video of the skating around Olkhon Island
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=961CW6m_RTw

Please note that in the next 2 months I will have only occasionally access to my emails (I will be working on a ship), so my answers will be delayed.

Cheers, Katja

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