Skating trip along Lake Baikal. Winter Baikal on ice skating. Ice skating equipment

If you are suddenly planning to go to Baikal and you don’t have time to read the entire report, scroll to the end of this article - there is a brief summary of useful information.

It's no secret that in winter you can find truly phenomenal ice on Lake Baikal: smooth, like a mirror, black, decorated with marble cracks. This amazing ice stands strong in February and sparkles in the sun until April. They say that when you drive along perfect ice Lake Baikal, you experience completely cosmic feelings...
- Do you want to go to Baikal? - Ksyusha, a seasoned tourist, organizer of hikes and participant in multi-races, once asked Arthur and me. - In a small group, at the very end of February-beginning of March?
This idea quickly took hold of the mind, and, fortunately, all the difficulties with the holidays were successfully resolved. The team was made up of water tourists who, however, were not experienced in winter tourism. Only Ksyusha and Katya went skiing together last year Arkhangelsk region, for the rest - me, Arthur, Igor and Olya - Baikal-17 was supposed to be the first winter trip. Everyone’s skating experience was also different: Olya was involved in figure skating, Arthur and I had a lot of roller skating, but, for example, Ksyusha tried ice skating for the first time during training. Therefore, we decided to keep it simple: if possible, spend the night at the bases and travel a relatively short (as it seemed to us) distance - 40 km a day: experienced ones even cover 120 km.
When developing the route, reports from a variety of groups were read, and they all promised: around Olkhon and on west coast from MRS (Sakhyurta) to Listvyanka there is little snow, and if the vagaries of the weather happen, then soon the harsh Sarma and her wind brothers Kultuk and Verkhovik blow the powder away east coast. We picked up equipment and organized rides on the courtyard skating rink, Sestroretsky Razliv and Ladoga (). The route they came up with was as follows: go around Olkhon from the MRS in 4 days, and then, after spending the night again at the MRS, walk along the western shore to the south to Buguldeika.

It turned out that on the ice of the skating rink, fishing sleds weighing 60-70 kg go with a bang, even if there are preschoolers in the harness. What can we say about the burly guys with ski poles!

The last pre-departure difficulty was resolved a day before departure and consisted of overcoming baggage restrictions imposed by Aeroflot. Firstly, ski poles can only be carried for free in a bag with skis, otherwise, according to the rules, they are oversized, which costs 5,000 rubles at best. back and forth. Secondly, the luggage itself should not exceed 158 cm in total dimensions. A winter tourist backpack, even tightly tied to a sled with a sling, barely fits into this limitation. In general, we left these problems to the discretion of the airport employees and we were right: 4 poles in a ski bag go well with “ski equipment”, and bulky cargo, if it does not weigh more than 23 kg, is also not subject to an additional fee.
And now behind us is an almost sleepless night, from which the flight eliminated 5 hours of the difference between the time in Irkutsk and St. Petersburg, running around the stores that had just opened in the morning for groceries and the latest equipment, and transfer to the base in MRS with half of the group on a minibus, and half - on the base owner's machine. Finally, it happened: the same great Baikal that we had been dreaming about for so long was revealed to our eyes! True, the bay near the base was almost completely covered with snow. But when we climbed the nearest hill, we saw it - that same mirror ice of Lake Baikal! It shone just a kilometer off the eastern shore of Olkhon. In the panorama it can be seen in the central strait between the island and the cape.



But... this was the last mirror ice during our entire trip. Yes, yes, this happens: there is windless snowy weather on Lake Baikal. However, did you know that if you come to Baikal on ideal dates, this can happen? Yeah, we didn't know either. And not only us - we met quite a few such “would-be hunters” for the ice of Lake Baikal during our trip.
Gathering things for the first trek was accompanied by snowfall. It intensified and then stopped, and even the sun, unusually bright for us St. Petersburgers, appeared.

After walking the first kilometers to the road, we change into skates. The procedure is not quick: take off your gaiters (shoe covers), then your boots, pack them in a bag, take out your skates, and replace them with boots... I calculated that at a driving speed of 10 km/h, during this time you can travel 2 km or even further.
Soon we found ourselves in a field of frozen slush, it became impossible to ride, so we dismounted again. As a result, we spent more than half of the daylight walking to Ogoy Island, famous for the Buddhist Stupa of Enlightenment. As is customary, we walked around it 8 times. I thought it would be easy to make a wish, but somehow I was thinking more about chafing knee pads and a fleece poorly tucked into my pants. And those things that I seemed to dream about in the city seemed pale and insignificant here. Even see the ice of Lake Baikal. There is a completely different dimension of things here, the passage of time, the perception of reality. The top of Ogoy Island, where the stupa stands, is ideally suited for peaceful contemplation without thoughts of mortal things.

Charged with spiritual and material energy, we went down to the drags. We chatted with Muscovites riding in white rented minibuses, and with a Khuzhir aborigine who has lived on the island all his life. It was nice that this man was in love with his small homeland, because this is not at all the case with residents of other beautiful places our country.
There is a highway along the western coast of Olkhon from Kurkut to Cape Khoboy, and we skated along it from Ogoy. Of course, this surface, scratched by tires, was the sought-after ice of Lake Baikal no more than formally. The different level of preparation of the group immediately affected: the guys and I and Olya took the lead, while Katya and Ksyusha found themselves in the rear.
All the way cars rushed past us, thanks to the wind from which there was no snow on the road. Drivers politely passed us, and many waved their hands and honked their horns in greeting. When the sun began to set, it became completely clear that the lagging behind were seriously slowing down the group, and Igor and I took the sleds from them, coupling them with ours onto the train (photo from the second day of running). The situation improved, the speed increased to 8 km/h.

But in the end, the remaining kilometers to Khuzhir were completed in the dark, on stiff legs and in the piercing cold. When the whole group gathered on the pier, among the rusting ships washed ashore, no one had the strength to repack the sleigh and put it on their shoulders, and we dragged them along the whitish main street of Khuzhir in the light of lanterns, welcomingly shining with the lights of the cafes, hotels and shops. But this was, of course, not a city glow, but a completely unique one, in the darkness reminiscent of an intuitive idea of ​​the gold-bearing Klondike.
The next day it turned out that the sled was worn out in places to holes, because the road was not snow-covered at all, but only a slightly powdered primer. A more pleasant discovery was that after yesterday's marathon, my legs could walk and roll.

After admiring the Shamanka rock and taking photographs of the idols, colored flags fluttering in the wind, we moved on to Cape Khoboy for our first cold overnight stay. Somewhere in the middle of the journey we met a tourist from our native St. Petersburg on Finnish skates. She talked about the hummock field in the Buguldeika area, which she and the group had been crossing all day, and that she still managed to see the fabulous ice.

And then photographers from Ulan-Ude in an Audi caught up with us, who, like us, were unsuccessfully hunting for mirror ice, and arranged a real photo shoot for us.



The closer we went to the north, the worse the road became, and we walked the last section of it. Darkness caught the group about 5 km from Cape Khoboy, and we set up camp right on the ice, in a semicircular bay. Ksyusha found a cave and settled down there, warm, with burners and pots.


Igor went to cut the ice with an ax. Well, how did it go - ice is everywhere here.

The surface on which we walk, slabs of hummocks, huge splashes (sokui) on the rocks, stalactites in the cave. Some of this, I won’t say what exactly, soon ended up in the bowlers.

The moon came out and the frost cleared up. I remember how I wanted to add extra for dinner, having finished one bowl, and the pan with pasta was already covered in ice. We didn’t know the air temperature; the thermometer on the clock showed two dashes (colder than -10), but our hands and feet were thoroughly frozen.
In the morning I had dreams accompanied by the purr of Ladoga motorboats. Then it turned out: it was Khuzhir loaves that carried tourists to Khoboy.
Before leaving, we heated water in thermoses for a very long time - for tea and soup with sublimates. For a very long time, because two of the three gas burners refused to work: the cheap Chinese one had a dripping faucet, the other one just barely burned in the cold, although it was an expensive Covea, which, according to recommendations, successfully helped out on mountain routes.

We reached Khoboy already at noon.

And here we are at the place where numerous tourists flock. The hummocks here are higher than a meter, made of the purest, turquoise-tinged ice. They are impressive and terrifying: if it weren’t for the road, how would one even get through here? Our fair half of the team declared a “mutiny on the ship” and invited the stronger part of the team to go around Olkhon without her.

“Usually on my trips I invite people to sit and wait for me,” said Ksyusha, green glasses sparkling in the sun, “but now I’ll wait for you.”
I thought, not without regret, that it would be impossible to drag huge, unliftable bales on drags across the hummocks if there was no detour road. Plus ice beyond Olkhon, if there is ice, is only half the distance (yesterday we looked at the satellite), but it is approximately 100 km. No, this is not for two days. Yes, and to be divided... something is wrong in this. And the guys and I decided to return to Khuzhir along the same road we came by. And the girls got into the UAZ and drove to the village to sit in a cafe and try poses (or, in Buryat, buuz), sort of big dumplings.

Along the way, we again found ourselves in the camera lenses of a professional photographer, met Swiss people on bicycles, Korean television, a Korean woman in crampons with a huge sled (Baikal 700 project) and an even larger number of our compatriots who excitedly asked how the ice was. I had to disappoint.

The hope for ice had not yet melted, but it was already weak. It's time for heavy artillery. Alexey Kostin, the head of the tourist club at our university, who supplied us with some of the equipment, gave us a couple of contacts in Irkutsk before the trip. One of Alexey’s acquaintances, Yuri, turned out to be a keen athlete, one of those who meets black ice on bays and sees off white ice on skis (report on one of his races).
In the evening I texted Yuri and found out that it was a snowy year. During the correspondence, the idea of ​​going to Goloustnoye was born. At the end of January there was a gorgeous mirror there. If there is ice, we will go for a ride, if there is no ice, we will have time to walk the distance to Listvyanka without getting too tired, it is only about 50 km. Everyone liked the idea, and Ksyusha especially - even when planning the route, she was thinking about seeing this section of the coast.

Since there is no road from Khuzhir to Goloustnoye, we decided to return to Irkutsk to spend the night. In the evening we wandered around the city in the dark. The center is beautiful, well-kept, but only one block in size. There is a walking area on the embankment.
...The Istana stopped behind Bolshoi Goloustny, opposite a continuous snow field stretching to the horizon, where, 40 km across the width of Lake Baikal, a snowy ridge glows blue in the haze. No, we weren’t lucky with clear ice this year, but it’s still so beautiful here!




It's not deserted here either. We crossed paths several times with the same commercial group - pedestrians dressed in ski and city jackets, pulling children's sleds with small bags by the rope.

Then tourists began to come across in serious equipment, snowmobiles, dog sleds, cars.

With two overnight stays at equipped parking lots along the Great Baikal Trail we reached Listvyanka. There Arthur and I hitchhiked to the ice-free source of the Angara and back. Unfortunately, there was not enough time for museums and the seal garden.
“It’s a pity that there was no ice,” Yuri wrote later. - This doesn't happen very often, but sometimes it happens that the entire west coast is covered in snow. Your timing was fine. You just need to choose a specific program depending on the situation. If the ice conditions are good, then roll the ice, of course. The situation is bad - you can go to the mountains for a walk part of the time.
We went to the mountains for the remaining 24 hours, finishing the route at the hot springs of the village of Vyshka (Pearl), in the vicinity of the Eastern Sayan.

The resort is a resort, but with a sophisticated rural flavor: the rooms are heated with potbelly stoves, cows and dogs roam along the muddy roads. Cuteness.

Walking along the sunny streets, past the Ice Cream stalls, I somehow forgot that it’s not summer here, but winter. And at sunset we went to the Irkut valley to look at the mountains.

Then there was Irkutsk with the museum of the history of the city, a long flight home, analysis of things and the results of the trip.

As a result, we skated about 100 km on preserved ice highway along the western coast of Olkhon, the rest of the route was walked - more than 70 km. The sports plan of the hike - to cover 300 km in 8 walking days, of course, was not fulfilled. But kilometers are kilometers, but we received impressions for a long time. It's a pity that this wonderful lake is located so far from home.

Useful information

Start of the hike: Irkutsk, until 10 am Ending:Irkutsk, after 14:00

How to go ice skating on Lake Baikal

• fill out the application directly on this page, we will contact you and help you prepare;
• buy tickets and send us a copy of them to confirm participation in the program;
• collect everything from the list of necessary things;
• meet our guide at the indicated location.

If you have any questions, call/write, our consultants will be happy to answer.

Payment and additional expenses

You can pay for the trip to the instructor when you meet in Irkutsk (in rubles) or transfer money to bank card before the hike.

Additional costs:

• 500 rub/day - skate rental
• drags - 1000 rub.

Skate rental

We can book you a skate rental in Irkutsk. BUT for this you must submit an application for the trip at least 3 months before the start date (before 12/01/2019) and transfer us an advance payment in the amount of 5,000 rubles (cost of skate rental). Otherwise, we cannot guarantee the availability of skates at the rental center.

Please note that we are conducting the trip during that small weather window when the ice is ideal for skating. Of course, there are a lot of people interested at this time. Therefore, do not count on renting skates if you decide to go to Baikal at the last moment (with our club or on your own) - it simply will not be there.

Also, be sure to take out medical insurance and send a photo or scan of it to the manager BEFORE the trip.

How to get to the meeting point

The fastest way to get to the group meeting place in Irkutsk is by plane from Moscow or St. Petersburg - the approximate cost is 25,000 rubles. There is a second option, which takes longer, but costs almost 2 times cheaper: a plane from Moscow/St. Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk - 8,000 rubles, and then a train to Irkutsk (1,200 rubles - a reserved seat, 2,500 rubles - a compartment, 18 hours on the way). For those who are in no hurry at all: train Moscow/St. Petersburg - Irkutsk, 4500 rubles - reserved seat, 9000 rubles - compartment (journey 4-5 days)

Skates and drags for hiking on Lake Baikal

The main requirement for participants in this hike is the ability to skate. Horse horses can be rented in Irkutsk, but we recommend having your own. Before the trip, you should sharpen your skates and train in the exact skates you will wear to Lake Baikal, so that you have time to break them in and identify all the shortcomings. If you bring your own skates, then any skates except figure skates will do. It's cold in them, they don't support the ankle, and the teeth will cling to uneven surfaces on the ice.

You can buy drags in Irkutsk upon arrival, the instructor will help you with this. Approximate cost- 1000 rubles.

Features and nuances of a trip to Lake Baikal

The route of the hike is planned in such a way that most of it is laid on the ice of the lake, but there will be sections that we will pass on land.

We will spend the night either in our tents or at camp sites. Warm clothes and good sleeping bags are a must for a winter ice skating trip on Lake Baikal. A big advantage on this hike will be the use of a drag sled, so most of the way our backs will not be weighed down by backpacks.

Food on Baikal

The hike will include classic tourist food, high-calorie and filling: buckwheat with canned meat, macaroni with cheese, ketchup and sausage, sandwiches, oatmeal and rice porridge with dried fruits, chocolate, cookies, halva, nuts, tea/coffee...

Need to know

• We transport all things on drags (weight 15-18 kg);
• We cook food on gas burners, less often over a fire;
• everyone takes an active part in the life of the camp and is on duty;
• overnight stays: in tents on ice and at camp sites.

Baikal route thread

Irkutsk — Cape Kristovsky —Aya tract - Olkhon Gate strait - Sakhyurta village (MRS) - Small Sea - Ogoy island - Olkhon - Shamanka rock - Cape Khoboy— Khuzhir — Irkutsk

Day 1. Getting to know Baikal

Participants of the hike meet with the instructor in Irkutsk. Next we have to drive 230 km to the western coast of the lake, to the village of Baguldeika, where our trip to Lake Baikal starts. The village is located on the shores of Lake Baikal at the mouth of the river of the same name and is surrounded by the picturesque ridges of the Eastern Sayan Mountains.

We check into a camp site, adjust our skates and take a test ride on the ice. Mesmerizing landscapes, unique landscapes, amazing ice will not leave anyone indifferent. After riding, we return to the base to rest - tomorrow we will need strength.

Day 2. Olkhon Strait

Today we have our first hard day of sailing. We move north to the Olkhon Gate Strait. It is this narrow strait that separates the southwestern part of Olkhon from the mainland. Our first night in tents will be next to the Kristovsky stream.

Day 3. Tangeran Plateau

We continue our hike around Lake Baikal. Today we will stop at the Aya tract on the Tazheran plateau. We set up camp, and in the evening we lightly climb the mountain, from where a majestic view of frozen Baikal opens up. It is very quiet and deserted here at this time of year.

Day 4. Sakhyurta (MRS)

Today the group will have a long trek to the village of Sakhyurta (better known as MRS), we will spend the night in houses, so there will be an opportunity to warm up and have a hearty meal. Sakhyurta is a Buryat name derived from sahyur - “flint”; this mineral was once mined here. MRS - transport hub with many mini-hotels, camp sites, guest houses.

Day 5. Ice of the Small Sea

Our further journey will take place in a surprising way. beautiful ice Small Sea. This is a section of Lake Baikal between Olkhon and the mainland. The shores of the Maloye More Bay are heavily indented by bays, which we will study. Some of these bays are surrounded by majestic mountain ranges and wild taiga forest. Also today we will visit the island of Ogoy, where Buddhist Stupa Enlightenment. These places are very beautiful and it will be pleasant to spend the night here. We set up camp next to the small lake Khonoy.

Day 6. Shamanka Rock on Olkhon

We continue our journey across the ice. We go to the village of Khuzhir - the largest settlement on Olkhon Island. We examine the Shamanka rock - business card islands. We spend the night at the camp site in warmth and comfort.

Day 7. Cape Sagan-Khushun and Khoboy

The last day of ice skating trekking on Lake Baikal. We reach the northernmost point of the island - Cape Khoboy, and along the way we inspect Cape Sagan-Khushun. In the evening we leave for the village of Sakhyurta to the places we already love. The surrounding views will remain in our memory for a long time; on this trip to Lake Baikal we will take a lot of photos, find new friends and have a lot of snowball fights... We will spend the night at the base.

Day 8. Return home

Our trip to Lake Baikal has come to an end. Most likely, it will be a little sad to part with fantastic Baikal and return to civilization. By lunchtime we will be in Irkutsk, from where we will go home.

Remember that you are going on a winter hike. Baikal can experience strong winds, so expect temperatures to drop as low as -25. Clothes should not be tight; it is better if they are a little too big.

Clothes for Baikal

• Gaiters/shoe covers (flashlights)
• Headgear (Hat, Balaclava, buff)
• Warm jacket (as light in weight as possible, preferably a down jacket)
• Down vest
• Comfortable underwear
• Warm wool socks
• Trekking socks
• Gloves/mittens (preferably down or fur)
• Work gloves
• Warm jacket with high neck (fleece)
• Warm thermal underwear (set, top and bottom)
• Thin thermal underwear (set, top and bottom)
• Trekking boots (demi-season/winter ankle fixed, thick sole). Boots should be 1-2 sizes larger to avoid frostbite on your feet.
• Bivouac footwear (felt boots, felt boots)
• Pants (storm/ski)
• Bivouac warm pants

Ice skating equipment

• Knee and elbow pads
• Backpack for a long hike (90 l - men, 70 l - women)
• Belt for fastening the sled and carabiner (can be a harness)
• Trekking poles
• Tourist rugs: Izhevsk + inflatable, or at least 2 Izhevsk ones.
• Tent
• Winter sleeping bag (comfort temperature -15)

What to take on a hike around Lake Baikal

Documents for Baikal

• Passport
• Insurance policy
• Money for additional expenses

A story about a 9-day hike taken at the end of February 2016.

Previously, I only visited Lake Baikal while passing through, when we went hiking in the Sayan Mountains. I saw Baikal briefly, from afar. Lake and lake, hills along the banks. Yes, the deepest fresh lake planets, the most clean water. Smoked omul. So, do you need to go to Baikal for this? After all, any small deserted mountain lake, be it in the Sayan Mountains, Altai or the Caucasus, it seemed to me much more beautiful than some huge body of water. Even the deepest one. However, now, having returned from a trip to Baikal, I declare with confidence: icy Baikal is a fantastic sight! And skating on the ice of Lake Baikal is a wonderful sensation of both the power of the elements and the freedom of flight. Even when a drag sleigh is dragging behind you on a rope. And it seems to me that the uniqueness of Baikal lies precisely in this, in the ability to travel across its ice. long trips. Here you can skate hundreds of kilometers. Where else can you find such conditions? People from all over the world flock to the ice of Lake Baikal like bees to honey. There are a lot of Japanese and Chinese here, not to mention Europeans. We (me and my friend Andrei Sashin) even met a girl from New Zealand during the hike. On the ice you can meet athletes on ice boats, kites, and dog sleds. Tourists travel across the ice in simple cars, jeeps, and hovercraft. You can spend the night among the hummocks on the ice (exotic!) or in a tent on the snowy shore, or in a warm cozy hut or guest house– choose what you like. I think every resident of Russia should visit Baikal in winter at least once in their life and skate on it. Feel the fairy tale Baikal ice. Listen to its deep crackling sound.

My skiing friend Andrey dragged me on this trip. He had already been to Lake Baikal 4 times in winter, walked everywhere: around Olkhon, crossed the lake, and ran from Olkhon to Listvyanka. The main equipment for such a hike is, of course, skates. It would be better if their blades were longer; you can’t go fast with hockey or figure blades. We bought “knives” 407 mm long from the Shilov Agency in Khimki (there were no longer ones), and Andrey attached them to pilot ski bindings (these are special bindings for skating). So, I was riding in my regular cross-country skate ski boots, which had blades attached to them. With each step, the heel rises, but the blade on it does not. However, this was not an obstacle to the trip. Andrei's skates with blades 470 mm long were attached to a rigid platform, which was fastened to mountain boots, like platform “crampons”. Why did we choose the end of February? Baikal freezes around the end of January. And at the end of March - beginning of April, the ice may already begin to melt. Therefore the most best time traveling around Lake Baikal - this is the end of February - the beginning or middle of March. Bare ice is not found everywhere on Lake Baikal. It is found on the west coast from Goloustnoye and further northeast to the northernmost tip of Olkhon and perhaps a little further. To the east of the western coast the ice stretches for 5–10 km, then it is snow-covered. Thus, the western coast of Baikal is really a unique place for long skating trips. The thickness of the ice on Lake Baikal is half a meter, or even more. Cars drive along it calmly. The only danger is the cracks that form in the ice. Baikal cracks very often. You drive and listen to its measured, deep crackling sound. Sometimes the ice cracks right under the ridge, but the cracks are shallow. All the ice is dotted with various cracks. Often they are simply not separated, just a line on the ice. And the width of the diverged crack, as a rule, is from 2–3 cm to 30 cm, no more. That is, the length of the skates allows you to jump over cracks while moving. The cracks were usually frozen - this was facilitated by low temperatures. Only once during the entire campaign did Andrei fall into a crack just below the knee. Every year the ice and snow conditions on Lake Baikal are different. However, as a rule, at the end of February - beginning of March, the bare ice is not yet covered with snow and rolling on it is a pleasure.

Early March is warmer than February. So, on our hike during the day the temperature was minus 12–17°C, and at night it dropped to minus 27–30°C. In the second part of the route it got warmer and at night it was no lower than 15–17°C. Andrey did not remember such severe frosts in March. It was in March that they went earlier, and the temperatures were much higher. And there were no strong winds, there were thaws. True, there were more open cracks. And at the end of March, the sun was beating so hard that everyone was riding in T-shirts, and the ice on top began to turn into a kind of loose ice slush, and the skate was drowning in it. So, skating around Lake Baikal very much depends on the weather. The route must be planned based on the forecast - what the wind will be like. If the southwestern one predominates, you need to start the route from Listvyanka, and if the northeastern one, on the contrary, from the north, from Sakhyurta or from Khuzhir. And you need to be prepared for the fact that the ice may even be covered. Around Olkhon on February 19. Transfer to the start. You can come to the village of Sakhyurta, or as the locals call the stop - MRS, by minibus from the Irkutsk bus station. In winter, the minibus runs twice a day, departing at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Ticket price for February 2016 – 700 rubles. (the price includes the cost of baggage transportation). The minibus takes 4–5 hours. In Irkutsk we were met by my friend Andrei Korotkov, who bought 4 cylinders of gas for us and put us on the list of passengers for the morning minibus.

Thus, having landed in Irkutsk at 6 am, we managed to do everything: buy food for the beginning of the route, and relax by sitting in a cafe near the bus station. The driver of the minibus, which then went to the village of Khuzhir, dropped us off on the shore of Lake Baikal near the Olkhon Gate Strait, 10 meters from the ice. Sun, frost about 17°C, southwest wind, just favorable for us. And bare, smooth ice! Such good ice Andrey had never seen anything in the strait before. And he had never managed to go around Olkhon completely: on the section from MRS towards Khuzhir in the Maloye More everything was jammed and it was impossible to go on skates. We hoped that now we would be able to go around Olkhon. In the meantime, we quickly load the sled with things in the wind, go out onto the ice, fasten our skates and... Andrey quickly flies away in the wind. And I am experiencing a shift in consciousness. This is real fantasy! The ice is transparent, and it seems that you are about to step on it and fall into the water. The thickness of the ice is cut by cracks, they shine through in large white layers deep into the depths, you force yourself to believe that this is ice, that it is thick, that the abyss will not open up under you this very minute. The ice on the cracks is smooth, but at first these lines with which it is streaked seem to me to be voluminous not in depth, but as if sticking out on the surface. It’s as if there is a field with countless obstacles and barriers ahead. I instinctively slow down, jump over every crack, raising my skate high. I stumble on level ground. And the wind at your back is noticeably driving you forward, it’s scary that it’s going to hit you against some obstacle. The wind is driving the sled, it seems that now it will cut your legs and bring you down onto the hard ice. And the ankles are not yet accustomed to the skating loads, the legs bend and do not hold. It’s cold, you can’t warm up from moving yet. The wind blows through me, I put on a thick puff coat over my primaloft anorak. I change my gloves to thick mittens. It’s good that I listened to the advice in the description of the walking tour around Olkhon: take equipment with you for minus 40°C, even if the forecast promises a little frost. It seems that everything is gone! What Olkhon! I wish I could get to Andrei, to this point on the horizon... And parallel to these thoughts of self-preservation, my head is spinning by the enchanting beauty and extraordinary nature of the surrounding landscapes. The strait is a frozen fjord with beautiful rocks reflected in the glass surface. Air bubbles frozen at different levels into the transparent layer of ice appear as white pancakes. And the stains on the rocks are frozen splashes and waves! Rocks under the ice. No, you have to get used to such beauty. For now, it is impossible for me to both admire the scenery and master the technique of gliding on heterogeneous ice. I disconnect from beauty and switch to gliding. Gradually I begin to feel more and more confident. I step over wide strips of drifted snow along the cracks. The skates hold, the poles with pobedit tips are stuck in securely. Soon I begin to jump over cracks without slowing down. However, I still fell 2 times that day (then during the entire trip I fell only 1 time). The ice, of course, is hard and falls must be avoided. We didn't take any protection with us. I didn’t immediately understand that I needed to slightly raise the front of the skate in front of the obstacle, so I often tripped on uneven surfaces. But soon this skill came and worked automatically. We rounded Cape Unshui and found ourselves in areas of ice that was not as even and smooth as at the beginning. There were strips of beautiful hummocks. The sun had set, but we decided to continue moving. The wind is fair - we must take advantage of it. We were very lucky: the moon was entering the full moon phase and illuminated the surroundings well. Skating on ice under the moon is simply wonderful! I never thought that ice floes glow with emerald lights under the moon, as if someone among the ice turns on a flashlight. We decided to land on the shore in a gap between the hills. There was a strip of ice floes along the shore. As it turned out, we were driving at a considerable distance from the coast, 5 km approaching the intended overnight stay on the shore. The distance was hidden by high cliffs of the shore. We drove without lights. Andrey came ashore earlier and showed me a flashlight. I went straight and ended up in a strip of hummocks. I couldn’t overcome them on skates, so I put on spikes. But even in them, walking through piles of ice blocks was dangerous. Then Andrei drove up to me from behind, from the sea. It turned out that there was a clear passage to the shore a little further, a detour, but I climbed directly. I put on my boots and skates again, and we quickly skated to the shore. In this valley, it turns out, there is a hut. It was locked, but next to it there was a small bathhouse, open. There was a stove there and we decided to settle in this small hut. It's good that you took a hacksaw. Several branchy trees and many dry stems grew around the hut. We quickly cut wood for the stove. The bathhouse could comfortably accommodate no more than 4 people. On this first day (or rather, half a day) we walked 31 km. February 20. The wind is east and northeast, headwind. It's much harder to walk. The shores are rocky and steep, with a strip of hummocks stretching along them. Not everywhere you can get close to the shore. The ice is different. There are good areas of smooth ice, and there are lumpy, uneven ice. This way you almost stop against the wind. The wind was especially strong in front of Cape Wuhan. And the ice here, as luck would have it, was not very good.

The wind blows through. I wear a fleece jacket, an anorak jacket made of primaloft, always a hood, and a windproof long windbreaker on top. Occasionally I put on a warm down jacket over it all. There are two layers of thermal underwear on the legs, fleece knee pads and Action Alpine running pants on top; they work great, do not restrict movement, are not very airy and breathable. When the sun and the crumbs of ice and snow flying towards me are blinding, I put on my glasses. I pull a fleece strip over my nose. And so the chin and part of the cheeks are covered by a pipe-bandana. There are shoe covers on the boots. This is a necessary piece of equipment if you want to prevent your feet from getting frostbitten. The main load is in the sleigh. And behind my back is a small backpack with comfortable large pockets on the Pocket Pack V2 Si straps, containing a down jacket, spare mittens, a snack, a flashlight, maps, and glasses. The pockets are convenient for keeping small items. The backpack belt distributes the load from the sled well. At some point I realize that I can’t move at all on the patch of lumpy ice: I keep stumbling, almost standing still. I put on spikes and at least somehow I can move, even in short dashes. With uniform movement, there are no treacherous jerks of the sled that jerk and send to the injured knee. My heart was relieved: somehow, we will complete the route under any conditions. Here is Cape Wuhan. Behind him, the ice soon becomes better. And the wind weakens. I'm putting on my skates again. And then only ridges of hummocky ice impede movement. In the evening we emerge onto fields of flat ice stretching to the horizon. It seems they are going straight to Cape Izhimei. We decide to get to it, it’s about 17 km. The sun set, the wind began to subside. We're almost flying! We decide to spend the night behind Cape Izhimei on the shore in a ravine, 5 km from the cape. But as we approach it, the wind suddenly gets stronger. When there are impulses, it simply stops. If we walked with the wind, it would be impossible to walk - it would be dangerous. It can carry you away and crash against some obstacle if you stumble. And against the wind it’s slow, but you can go. Only your eyes freeze and hurt from the cold if you don’t wear glasses. (As we were later told at the weather station, during the day it was minus 17°C, and at night – minus 30). Behind the cape ahead, a bright star twinkles. Some kind of planet? Too low. Only when they approached the cape and quietly began to go around it, they realized that it was a flickering beacon on the shore, high from the water, on the rocks. Cape Izhimei. Mount Zhima. The most high place Olkhon - 1274 m. And below it - the most deep place on Baikal – 1642 m. It’s already about midnight, the wind is pressing on us. And you can’t go ashore, there are pressures here and there. Everything is in hummocks. We don’t want to put up a tent on the ice in such cold and wind, so we decide to move on until we find a way out to the shore. We skate far from the coast along good ice fields, they stretch along a strip of hummocks. So we reach the bay of the village of Uzury. This is the only settlement on the eastern shore of Olkhon. An interesting incident happened on the way to the village. At some point, a stick stuck into a crack and didn’t pull out, it began to break and I let go of the lanyard. I drove forward a little by inertia and went back for the stick, naturally without unhooking from the sled. Just think, it’s nothing, an ordinary incident, I’ll go back five meters, now I’ll grab a stick - and continue. Ah, no! The stick is not visible. But I'm with a flashlight! I look around the ice and see nothing. After getting lost for a minute, I unhooked the sled to mark the search location. I begin to carefully comb the space. I go around all the nearby cracks. The stick seemed to have sunk into the water! Fantastic. I throw the second stick onto the ice and realize that it has an amazing camouflage color on the ice. I continue my search. I work with a stick like a stick - if I don’t notice, then at least I’ll catch it. About 10 minutes pass. An alarmed Andrei drives up to me. I explain the situation. (At first Andrey thought that I was pranking him: how can it be that I can’t find a stick?! But really, no way!) The two of us search for another 10 minutes. Do we really have to set up camp here in order to find it around the world in the morning? Andrey is already looking about 150 meters from the sled. I conduct investigative experiments by springing the stick away from the crack. It does not fly further than 2–3 meters. I decide to look not behind the sleigh or from the side, but closer to the village - in the direction where we were going. Suddenly, as I was turning around, I drove past a stick. And here I come across! 10 meters from the sled. More than 20 minutes of searching out of the blue! Amazing! Now to the shore. Late. Everyone is sleeping. There are people, you can see that, here and there the stoves are lit. I don't want to bother them. But standing up on a bare spot in the middle of the village is somehow stupid. And the forest begins on the slopes about 700 meters away from the steep banks framing the bay. But then a man appeared from the weather station house. – Why are you shining a flashlight in your eyes? It's two o'clock in the morning. - Sorry! We are tourists, we can’t go ashore anywhere, everything is covered in hummocks. We could spend the night in the bathhouse. And here in the village all the houses are closed, there is no one. - Yes, come into the bathhouse. There is firewood. Drown. So we were successfully located this time too. And at night it was minus 30. On this day, despite a strong headwind and sometimes not very good ice conditions, we covered 71 km. February 21. Pos. Uzury. Today, finally, we are in no hurry. If we walked 71 km against the headwind, then we can do much more with the wind. The frost is about 15–17°C, the sun is shining, there is almost no wind. Beauty! We calmly glide on the ice and take photographs. I really liked this section of the route from the village of Uzury through Cape Khoboy to the western side of the island. There was excellent smooth mirror ice here. And amazing ice splashes on the rocks. And even coastal caves. Near Cape Khoboy, many cracks and hummocks began to appear along them. Andrei fell into one such unfrozen crack just below the knee with one leg. But he quickly jumped out and didn’t even have time to get wet. And water really doesn’t look any different from ice. You need to be more careful on cracks where ice floes are bristling; you need to probe such cracks with a stick. Beyond Cape Khoboy, the northernmost point of Olkhon, the hummock tongue went far to the west. And along it stretched a strip great ice. We flew along it, hoping that the hummocks would now recede, but no. I had to go back and look for a passage to the southwest along the coast. Behind the cape, among the ice piles, there was a car, and a bunch of people were visible. We crossed the strip of ice (on skates) and approached the car. Further on, among the hummocks there was something like a road; it meandered along lower areas of ice drifts. And people turned out to be Chinese tourists- they were brought here, to the cape, and they walked among the hummocks. We drove another one and a half kilometers to the bay, where the path up began. I walked the last 500 meters to the shore without skates - all in broken snow-covered ice floes. We climbed the forest slope along the path to the top of the watershed ridge, where there was already a steppe. The views from above are stunning. A walk to the northernmost cape of Olkhon is undoubtedly worth visiting.

We returned downstairs with firewood collected along the way, already in the dark. We pitched a tent on a narrow, gently sloping shelf of the shore between a cliff and ice. At night it seemed to be about 30° below zero. As an experiment, I tried to sleep in one Fantasy 233 sleeping bag, weighing 1400 grams. Its declared comfort temperature is from plus 2 to minus 3, and extreme – minus 18°C. But I sleep in all my clothes, pants, a primaloft anorak and a puff coat. However, it was cool in one sleeping bag, so I climbed into the second one, a down one, weighing 750 grams. (Usually on winter hikes I always use two sleeping bags). I slept well in two, but it was chilly. In the following nights the temperature did not drop so low, it was no lower than 17–18°C and I slept very comfortably in two sleeping bags. So all these degrees of extreme comfort are very relative. A lot depends on what you put on yourself when you get into your sleeping bag. On this day we walked 22 km. February 22. Frosty dawn. The inside of the tent is covered in frost. We cooked both over a fire and in a tent on a burner. Today we walked along the road on ice. They didn't walk, they flew. The wind is fair. The road cuts through strips of hummocks and compacts the snow, so you can skate almost everywhere. Only the ice on the road is a little whitish from the tires, not pristinely smooth and clean. Caravans of jeeps are coming towards us. It's a day off, that's why there are so many people. However, no tourists were seen on skates or on foot. Only one cyclist was seen. In front of the islands, which are 8 km from the village of Khuzhir, there were areas bad ice where you walk and stumble. But then - a clear ice field all the way to the village. There are beautiful ice deposits under the Shamanka rock near the village. But there are a lot of people. Beyond Cape Khoboy there are many more such deposits, and there are no people there. In the village we bought food for the next part of the route and decided to spend the night. The place to stay is the sea. The village is clearly focused on the tourism business. We knocked on the courtyard closest to the store, where it was written “Rooms for rent,” and we were sheltered in a cozy room with electric heaters. We walked 42 km in a day. February 23. Headwind again. The sun behind the gloom. But gradually the clouds rose, the slopes of the hills beyond the Small Sea became visible. At first there was a patch of lumpy ice, but then it got better. We admired the beautiful sagging on the capes. We had lunch at the sharp Cape Khorgoy, 27 km from Khuzhir. There was no wind here, and the splashes on the rocks were illuminated very beautifully. The silhouette of Khibiny Island resembles a whale. And behind Cape Kobylya Golova a fabulous stretch of ice began. We were flying! We met two boats here. One drove up to us. The pilot turned out to be a Frenchman from Paris. They were training today, and soon they were going to go to Severobaikalsk, but not on ice boats. The buer can reach speeds of up to 100 km per hour!

And our speed is 18–20 km per hour, and that’s when the wind is fair. And here again is the Olkhon Gate Strait. We have closed the circle around Olkhon. 200 km behind. We completed them in 4 days, the last two days not in a particular hurry. So this distance can be covered faster if desired. Behind Cape Cross, at the exit from the strait, areas of hummocking began. But mostly the ice was good. We drove to the last cove before a long stretch of solid rocky coastline with no coves. It is convenient for an overnight stay, located about 20 km from Cape Cross and 7 km in front of Cape Ulan-Nur.

The tent was set up on bare ground. A strong wind blew out all the snow in a wide treeless ravine and did not allow us to calmly relax on the shore. There were clearly camps for cattle breeders here: fire pits lined with stones, dry cow patties, stones pressing down the tent panels along the perimeter. We walked 64 km in a day. From Olkhon to Listvyanka on February 24. The wind is headwind, southwest. The daytime temperature is about 10°C below zero. In the area from Cape Ulan-Nur to Cape Krestovsky, the ice condition was not good everywhere. There were areas of uneven ice floes where our movement slowed down noticeably. In some places there was good ice in a narrow strip along the steep bank. Such strips ended in cracks with hummocks; often on them one could find traces of a car passing and driving along a rut. An interesting meeting took place on this day. At some point Andrey ran forward, and I lost sight of him. Ahead stretched a patch of uneven ice, and it was not very clear where it was best to go. Then a black dot appeared ahead among the whitish ice floes. I thought that Andrey was waiting and went to the point. It suddenly became so big that I realized: there was a car in front of me. This shore was completely deserted; we had not seen anyone before. The truck pulled up to me and stopped. A man leaned out of the cabin: “Do you speak English?” While I was thinking how best to answer that I didn’t know very well, he asked again: “Parlez français?” – English! English! - I hastily began to answer, so that he would not climb further into some German jungle. Then the man told me in English that it was better to stick to the shore, the ice was better there and my partner was walking there. – Where are you from? – From Moscow. – What country? – Russia. - Ugh, you little cat! Russians, or what? - What, you can’t see it? Here, the shoe covers are torn. - Fuck them, with shoe covers. Mostly foreigners go skating here. So we talked. In the evening the wind died down, and we drove the last ten kilometers beyond Cape Goly magnificent ice and calmness. The tent was set up in a snow-free clearing. It seems that the temperature at night did not drop below 12–15°C. There was no wind. So, on this day we left at about 10 in the morning, walked all day with a stop for a snack, and stopped at a parking lot at sunset around 7 in the evening behind the village of Buguldeika - about 2 km, in the first ravine where it was possible to put up a tent on the shore. During this full walking day, in 9 hours, we covered a total of 60 km. February 25. It was a tailwind day. We flew, without straining, 80 km to Goloustnoye. Moreover, the sun was shining for half a day, and then gloom crept in, drifting snow flew in, and the gusts of wind intensified. It was unpleasant to turn around and look back. And forward is a pleasure. Finally it became hot to run, I even took off my gloves and once for a short time - my anorak jacket. The ice on the section from Buguldeika to Goloustnoye was excellent everywhere. We ran the first 30 km at a speed of about 15 km per hour. And it was cruising speed, without strain. We had lunch, hiding from the wind behind Cape Bolshoy Kolokolny. In front of Goloustnoye we met a large group of tourists walking towards us. They were skating too! This is a team from Yekaterinburg. On this day they were walking against the wind, so they looked very bundled up compared to us. When the Goloustnaya River flows into the lake, it forms a delta, and the flow of the river continues along the ice in strips of high ridges of hummocks. We circled this place for a long time, avoiding ridges of hummocks. Behind the delta there suddenly became a lot of snow on the ice, and it became more difficult to skate. And the bay near the village was already completely covered with snow. We docked at about 5 pm, but decided not to go any further that day. We bought groceries at the store and stopped for the night at Mikhalych’s. This is a large base for tourists not far from the shore, near the church. The double wooden houses were heated with electric heaters, but the heat did not come immediately. While waiting for him, you could sit in a large, warm cafe, very comfortably decorated.

So, on this day, in about 7 hours of walking, we covered 80 km. February 26. From Goloustnoye to Listvyanka there are 45 km left - nothing at all. We didn’t set out early, but a strong headwind and a snowstorm completely slowed down our progress. At first we even walked a little - all the ice was covered with snow. Then, far from the shore, areas of unswept ice began to appear, and we zigzagged along them, trying to glide more and run less across deep channels. I couldn’t even believe that just yesterday we were just flying across mirror ice. At the cape, behind which lies the bay with the village of Bolshie Koty, there was so much snow that we completely took off our skates, and I even changed my shoes to spikes. So, we had to walk the last 30 km to the finish. In the evening the wind died down. Before dusk that day we managed to advance only 17 km. We decided to walk another 12 km in the dark to the cape behind Bolshie Koty. They walked straight, without a rutted road, which, having appeared on snowy ice, went to the right, towards the shore, into the village. At times the snow was ankle-deep, the sled was jerking, and dragging it was no longer as easy as on ice. On the way we crossed an unfrozen crack - a continuation of the river. The width is about one and a half meters, everything is a wet mess. We walked about 200 meters towards the village before we found a snow bridge. We spent the night in a tent in a ravine, a little before reaching the cape. There was a lot of snow on the shore; people fell knee-deep under the trees. We covered about 28–30 km in a day. February 27. 15 km to the finish line. We follow the track of the road that stretches along the coast. The wind is headwind again. Who did we meet on the way today! And a dog sled driver, and a hovercraft whose captain offered to give us a ride. We met three cheerful local aunties skiing, a group of hikers with backpacks, and even two ice skaters just like us. It was a local guy and a girl from New Zealand. This is how far away people come to us to skate on the ice of Lake Baikal! We finished the route exactly at the place where the Angara flows out of Lake Baikal. Where the ice ended and the water began. This is just opposite the Baikal Museum, which you should definitely visit, which is what we did. And we saw there what we couldn’t see during the hike - live seals and a variety of fish.

From the newspaper “Free Wind” No. 132.

Winter Baikal is the world's largest ice skating rink. If you're tired of crowding parks to deafening music, then this is the place for you. The endless ice of a frozen lake allows you to take a break from people, roads, houses, and from all possible fuss big city and enjoy riding in silence. We offer a comfortable option for a winter skating trip: we spend the night in warm guest houses and skate lightly - things are transported by car.

During the route we will cross the Small Sea and visit the island of Ogoy, where a Buddhist stupa is located. Let's take a walk to the Shamanka rock on the western coast of Olkhon Island in Pribaikalsky national park. We will make a radial trip to the eastern shore of Olkhon and Cape Izhemey. And at the end of the trip we’ll take a ride along the Circum-Baikal railway on a hovercraft - a hovercraft.

Winter Baikal is a fairy tale. And winter Baikal on ice skates is a fairy tale with adventures.

What does “comfortable winter hiking” mean?

Hike on winter Baikal– this is, of course, extreme. We have designed the route in such a way that you can get a dose of adrenaline, skate to your heart's content and enjoy the scenery as much as possible, while remaining in your comfort zone.

Overnight stays are not in tents, but in warm and cozy guest house rooms. We will overcome simple transitions on skates lightly, taking with us only a small backpack with a thermos and a snack. Items are transported by car. Anyone who is tired can take a day off and ride the next stage in the warm seat of the car.

About winter Baikal

A distinctive feature of Baikal is that the ice freezes in completely unimaginable forms. It seems that Kai is from Snow Queen was a huge giant, it was here that he played with pieces of ice and made up the word “eternity” from them. Shades of blue, blue and black ice. The absolute transparency amazes the imagination - everyone who arrived for the first time lies on their stomachs and looks at the bottom, rejoicing like children.

The thickness of the ice cover in spring reaches two meters. There is so much ice on Baikal that it is classified depending on the method of freezing. On the windward rocks, a sokui forms - a thin edge of ice, frozen in the fall from the splashing waves. The height of splash ice is often up to 10 meters. In caves and grottoes you can find underground ice - huge icicles hanging from the ceiling. Baikal is the place where you can feel like a White Walker from Game of Thrones.

For whom?

The tour is suitable for winter nature lovers who are not ready to spend the night in a tent or do not feel confident in covering fairly long distances every day. An excellent option for photographers - there will be a lot of time for shooting.

If you want even more adrenaline, then pay attention to the route "

From email correspondence:

Vitya, to hell with Spain! I want to go to Baikal. Are there still places on the team?

There are places, but you need to buy skates (from Finland), sleds, and sticks with carbide tips. Can you do it in a week?

No, I can't do it in a week. Apparently not fate :((

Three days later:

Dima, one participant is not going. All the equipment is there. Are you with us? Buy a ticket. Now there are sales ones!

After two hours:

Vitya, I bought tickets! I'm on the Team!

Road to Khuzhir

It's good that despite all my love for planning, you can still find some wiggle room in life! So this time, having decided that I wanted a real outdoor adventure, and not a banal trip to Europe, I managed to jump on the departing train and ended up in a wonderful team of guys, led by Viktor Savelyev (Petzl-Russia).

There were two big “unusualities” for me on this trip. Firstly, we finally managed to carry out our school plans to hike on the ice of Lake Baikal. It's great when dreams that are 20 years old come true! Well, secondly, I haven’t gone on a hike for a hundred years as a participant, and not as a leader. I’ll say, looking ahead, this is great! The head is freed from organizational issues to communicate with friends and Nature.

The story about this trip (see below) is the essence of collective creativity. The text was written by both me and my partners on the Baikal hike. ( Italicized). So, let's go!

Day 1: Moscow - Irkutsk - Olkhon Island

Day 2: Skating training and trip to Cape Sagan-Khushun

First cracks

At Cape Sagan-Khushun

Ice crystals

Summary of the day from Lena Savelyeva:

We woke up, had breakfast in the dining room and began preparing equipment for the training session on the ice. Holes were drilled in the sled to attach the rope and the skates were adjusted.

At 11 am, on two loaves of bread, we went to Cape Khoboy. For the first time we skated on the ice of Lake Baikal. 5 kilometers easy. Great! Further - ice cave, hummocks, rocks. We went up and for the first time saw from above the Inland (Small) Sea and Big Baikal at the same time. It was, as usual, sunny and good visibility. Far, far away, at a distance of 150 kilometers, the Barguzinsky ridge was visible. After returning from the top, lunch right on the ice. They even ate from a crack in the Baikal water. Yummy!

The evening program was intense: bathhouse, sunset with a view of Lake Baikal, Madera.

Then continuation in the dining room: delicious fresh omul (g/h), vodka, Martini, Manchegorsk tincture :)

Well, of course, each participant was looking forward to the start of the hike. I really wanted to escape from civilization.

Day 3: First day of the hike. Ust-Anga - ice camp

Installing the first ice camp

Camp setup is complete!

Our camp. Photo: (c) Jean-Philippe Birmele

Baikal crystal

Lena Savelyeva about this day:

Finally escaped from civilization!! At 11.00 am we unloaded from the car and went skating on the ice of Lake Baikal. Warm! Sun! At first we had to climb along the hummocks, going around the cape, but then there was perfect ice until we spent the night (and this is rare, as it turned out later :)). We rolled along the mirror of Lake Baikal and enjoyed it!

Overnight on ice near the cape?? It is impossible to imagine a more wonderful overnight stay. Multi-colored tents on ice screws, dinner on the stoves, and all around is the blue and white expanse of the lake. Glowing tents (and we have 7 of them) were reflected at night in transparent ice like a garland. The sunrise was amazing :)

Summary of the day, Dmitry Kovinov:

The day has started off well! There is excellent ice in the bay near Ust-Anga, where we begin our skating trip around Lake Baikal! Everyone is in anticipation, like horses before the start of a race. Before I had time to take a couple of shots, my friends and comrades disappeared over the horizon. However, this was not the case! The exit from the bay is blocked by real barricades made of ice fragments. The speed drops to 500 meters per hour! What's next? If such an ambush continues, then how will we cover the 200 kilometers planned for four days?

Immediately after the hummocks, the skates began to fly off. So much for camping on bunks! The fastening straps don't hold at all! Together with Uncle Sasha (he is a remaster in our group) we tried all the options. Nothing helped! They even tried hanging it on strings - nonsense! In the end, having given up on everything, I decide to walk, fortunately I have a walkie-talkie, and I won’t be able to pass by the camp if I walk along the shore.

When two of the 19 people in our group remained on the horizon, it became clear that my speed on foot was several times lower than the speed of the group and something needed to be changed.

From the tenth option I come up with a working solution - I pass the front strap of the skate through the boot lace. Hooray!! Now the sock doesn't come off and you can go!

By lunchtime I caught up with the group, but I completely “killed” my hands, since they were still tormenting me - I rode almost exclusively on them. I skip lunch, I don’t want to fall behind, God knows what else these damn skates will do!

In the afternoon I even overtook five people and took several shots.

In the evening I “work as a photographer” while everyone is setting up tents. We dine with hot smoked omul, taken last night on Olkhon, and porridge. Lots of delicious drinks from 20 to 40 degrees. A crowd of 20 mouths easily consumes 1.5 liters of intoxicating drink. In the evening there are races and the sound of the wind, you can’t hear the ice breaking, the ice is warm and flexible!

Day 4: Ice camp - Buguldeika

Text: Irina Bolshakova

So, the first hiking morning of our hike on the ice of Lake Baikal. Early. The night was quite hectic for me, at first they started screaming Russian songs (scaring the French with their breadth of soul and range, is it really going to be like this every evening?), then the cold from under the rug didn’t let me sleep, that’s what it means to be unaccustomed to winter hiking and have old equipment for a long time I waited for the ice to start cracking, fell asleep... already in the morning, having decided to take a walk while it was still dark, I crawled out of the tent. It’s not at all as cold as I was afraid, it’s very quiet... I’m walking in slippery boots, and then it’s like WHAM!

No, in fact, the ice just thumped, but in the silence, the darkness and hearing this for the first time... It seemed to me that the sound came right under my feet, I looked around frantically, saw a huge network of black cracks running away from me in different directions and I immediately forgot why I was actually going! She rushed towards the camp on weak legs. Already lying in my sleeping bag, I listened in horror (finally) to the sounds of Lake Baikal, it crackled and thumped almost continuously, it’s surprising that in the evening nothing like that happened. My fuss woke up Sasha, he muttered that it seemed to me that I couldn’t hear anything at all, turned away and continued snoring. Dima and Katya also did not wake up. I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time, imagining how the crack, snaking and widening, stretched under our tent. I dozed off just before dawn, when one of the attendants shouted: “Guys, we’re getting up, it’s so sunny!”

Morning at the camp

Here is the key point: is it worth obeying? I've seen and seen these sunrises and sunsets, I just managed to doze off and get warm. But the choice was made for us, the man on duty simply opened the zippers of the tent and voila! All I had to do was open my eyes, stick my nose out of my sleeping bag and admire Sasha’s foresight, who set up the tent by the entrance at dawn. The silvery ray of sun that came running into the tent across the ice of Lake Baikal was worth the early morning fears!

In the light of day, all the gaping cracks around the camp turned out to be old and not at all scary, and under our tent there was black, durable ice. It was very easy to assemble, nothing gets lost or dirty on the ice. Yesterday’s smoked omul returned to my sled; after all, it’s a tasty thing, even in its “chilled” form. There are still about six left, out of forty carcasses.

Gypsies on Lake Baikal! =))

Sasha and I were, again for some reason, one of the last to go out. I grind my teeth, I hate walking at the back of the group. Today it’s a little easier than on the first day of walking, I’m already better at choosing a road among the spots of “bad” white ice, it became clear that along the cracks, which I was very afraid of at the beginning of the journey, I could drive much faster; the ice here was almost black, which means it was very smooth and durable. The water regime was also unusual for me; I had never drank so much on the route, although I think I just found a reason to rest a little longer.

We are gradually catching up with our guys, the group is very stretched, by a couple of kilometers, for sure. Only at a rest stop, when I saw Dima, did I remember about the camera. Still, the professionalism of the photographer is reflected in this, but I’m just too lazy to stop and take out the equipment so often.

Due to the fact that there is no set time for lunch, the middle of today’s journey is blurred, or rather blurred for several hours, I feel tired, I begin to look more often at the navigator, how far we have already walked, what is more important is how much is left to the reference point. The vanguard of the group radios that they are four kilometers from the planned overnight stay, but the ice is very bad, and the leaders decide to stand closer to the village. Buguldeika. We still have to stomp and stomp, or rather roll and roll, but skating is already difficult, the March Baikal ice has softened so much that the skates are constantly falling through the white snow spots.

I’m glad that we turn sharply towards the shore, which means there’s not much left. But my hands hurt a lot, because of the sudden stops of the skates on uneven surfaces I have to rely more on poles, and my palms already have strong “calluses” from unsuccessful lanyards. Ahead, almost under the very shore, the figures of girls are visible, they have been standing in one place for a long time, either they are waiting for us, like signalmen, or something has happened. Skating has become really bad, you have to take off your skates and walk, which is not much easier, the ice, although covered with snow, is still slippery and very uneven.

For a couple of hours now there has been a discussion on the radio that one of the participants went too far into Lake Baikal, “more seaward”, and there is no connection with him. The radio is dead, he doesn’t have a navigator, the sun is already setting and it’s unclear whether he’ll make it to his campsite before dark. Sasha, Dima, and I barely have time to fall onto the sandy shore and the sun immediately disappears behind the coastal ridge.

The rest of the tents are already standing and only Katya is waiting for us on the shore, because our general tent is going to Sasha, and the group tents are going to Dima. The French are on duty today, they arrived a long time ago, the wood has been collected, the fire is burning. Dima rents out the canals and immediately runs off along the shore to photograph everyday life. Sasha is trying to persuade us to spend the night on the ice of Lake Baikal again, but after last night and the constant cracking of the ice during the day, I am categorically against it, although good place almost none on the shore. Finally, the tent is on the shore, the sleeping bags are made and we crawl away to the fire to help the French prepare dinner. At this time, the lost participant Dima arrives, with the call sign “Omul”, who from that moment turns into “Sea Omul”. He is immediately given some hot tea left over from the route, dressed in a powder coat and sent to the fire.

Our leader calms down, the group spends the night, everyone is happy. And then screams are heard from the shore, more tourists are coming. It turns out that the guys from Moscow, Vitya and Misha, friends of the Savelyevs, caught up with us. We get all sorts of goodies: chartreuse, our northern lingonberry liqueur, homemade liqueur from pine cones, cut up surprise meats, sausage cheese (the French were very surprised by it) and by dinner everyone finally relaxes, a difficult day is over, no one is lost, people vying with each other to share their impressions of the day , the girls gasp at the mileage of the super-bisons Vitya and Misha, and Moristy Omul gives toast after toast “about the ice of Baikal and the vicissitudes of the journey.”

Bonfire in camp #2

The whole team is assembled!

Day 5: Buguldeika - Babushka Bay

Pine ice near our camp

Coming out of the bay we immediately find ourselves on bad ice. We're barely going. By lunchtime, under gusts of headwind, we go out to iconic place- a beautiful rock-arch called Dyrovataya. We take a break with hot tea.

To get onto the ice you have to overcome a large crack. After twisting back and forth a little, we find a passage across the ice floe, which lies in the form of a bridge. The main thing here is not to fuss and do stupid things. I don’t want to swim in the icy water at all!

After a crack and a series of hummocks, I decide to try walking. It will probably not be faster, but at least you can look around. Otherwise, with such ice, you have to always look at your feet, and not around. You won’t even see Baikal! It feels like the speed will not be higher, but less effort should be spent!

And indeed, after an hour I notice that I am walking at the same speed as the guys on skates, who are riding a couple of hundred meters to the sea, on a parallel course to me.

Surprisingly, walking is great! On such ice this is definitely a good option. And in general, I like to walk. Minimum load - maximum pleasure! Bliss! I immediately remembered my recent solo hike in the Swiss Alps!

In the evening I notice that the guys walking ahead are starting to move towards the shore. Probably a camp! Indeed, a characteristic rock appears on the right, a photograph of which, even before the hike, Victor sent out as a guide for the next camp.

We go ashore at dusk! It was a working day, and in the evening Katya and I also had a change of duty. Cook potatoes with stew. The partners get drinks. Nice evening;)

Lena Brechka about this day:

In the morning we woke up to the French call “Atable!!” (in official translation this is a call for lunch or dinner). And our French team prepared an excellent breakfast for us.

Our French friends and I diverged at this stage of the journey. They were leaving for home, but we had to continue our route along the ice of Lake Baikal according to the planned plan. After a well-thought-out farewell by Vitya Savelyev, staged like in hockey, we continued the route with slight sadness.

The day turned out to be excellent - sunny and without wind. True, good ice never appeared. It was a bit difficult to walk. After several treks we stopped for lunch. Vitya Dubitsky made us tea on gas. We had a good snack and relaxed by the beautiful coast in the rocks. At lunch, it was decided to go to the far parking lot, that is, another 14 kilometers.

The mood was excellent, a beautiful rock loomed ahead, where a parking lot in Babushka Bay awaited us.

By seven in the evening, having crossed the hummocks, someone entered and someone drove into the bay.

Babushka Bay is a beautiful sandy bay with pine trees. The rocks around are reminiscent of the Krasnoyarsk Pillars - “cliffs made of pine trees”. I remember the pine trees with aerial roots right on the sand. And in the evening - a great dinner with surprises. Liqueurs, delicious meat and canned fruit enhanced the impression of a beautiful camp near the fire right on the shore of Lake Baikal, an extraordinary starry sky and our warm and cozy company.

It was a wonderful day!

Day 6: Babushka Bay - camp "at the forest hut"

Morning in Babushka Bay

Typical view

On the route

Text: Dmitry Kovinov

The wonderful morning began with a short walk, this time without skates, to Peschanka Bay, adjacent to ours. The surrounding rocks are like the Krasnoyarsk pillars! In the morning the weather was so good that I didn’t feel like leaving at all. But we must move forward, there is no other way.

Almost from the very beginning, “bad” white ice began and, following yesterday’s example, I took off my skates and changed into trekking sneakers. It's good that I took them!

And indeed, it’s easy to walk, you can immediately look around! It’s just a pity that there are no cats, it would be absolutely great with them!

By the 12-hour communication session, I caught up on foot with a large group of tourists of twenty people. It turned out that this was a children's group from Moscow. Their method of movement is unique - instead of sleds, they carry backpacks on skis, and on their feet are regular figure or hockey skates. Ineffective. They walk no faster than me, a pedestrian.

At the next communication session, I received good news from Victor - if you take a couple of hundred more seaward, you can go out onto black ice. That’s why I was surprised why my partners went beyond the horizon so quickly!

I change my sneakers again to my high-altitude LaSportiva Spantik, put skates on them, and taking a little to the side I really go out onto the fields pure ice. The speed instantly increases 3-5 times to 15-20 kilometers per hour! Now it’s clear why you need to skate on the ice of Lake Baikal!

On this high-speed section we catch up with another group, which also moves in an unusual way - sitting astride a sled and pushing with sticks. Having caught up with the first one, I start a conversation. It turns out that the guys are from Novosibirsk. I don’t have time to tear myself away when, on the right, as I move, I notice that my friends are turning sharply towards the shore. Are we already there? This is what “correct”, hard and fast ice means! We covered a huge distance in an hour! How far could you travel if there was always such ice?!

In the evening we go on a radial hike through the surrounding hills. In about 20 minutes, through a pine forest, we climbed a steep cliff on the shore of the lake-sea. Amazingly beautiful. Untouched reserved nature. A sea of ​​pine forest, heated by an unusually warm sun for this time of year, and ahead is the endless sea of ​​Baikal. Great day!

Day 7: Camp “at the forest hut” - Bolshoye Goloustnoye village - Irkutsk

Khamar-Daban. 100 kilometers in a straight line.

Text: Lena Savelyeva

We got up at 7 am. The weather is wonderful - like autumn in Crimea. Khamar-Daban glows opposite. The hummocks glisten in the sun. The ice promises to be black (the highest category!!), so we are cheerful and cheerful. Moreover, the finish of our hike is only 15 km away.

Halfway there were games. Shore Track, curling, sledding. We practiced climbing out of the water onto the ice using special equipment :)

At 14:00, minute by minute, according to the hike plan, we loaded into the car in the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye. Two hours - and we are in Irkutsk! And there it is as usual. Walking around the city, Angara embankment, Ussuri Balsam :)

It was a good hike. We must repeat!

Baikal ice in March. Classification.

During the hike, I saw more types of ice than I have ever seen in my entire life. I will try to classify the quality of ice for skating tourism.

• Black smooth ice. Perfect. Without much effort, having a sled behind you with equipment weighing about 15 kilograms, you can easily maintain a cruising speed of 10-15 km/h! It’s a pity that we only came across 15 kilometers of such ice (10% of the route).
• We walked most of the route (about 70%) on ice, which was located along small cracks filled with water, surrounded by fields (spots) of degrading ice. The main difficulty in moving on such ice is the need to constantly monitor such narrow strips of ice and jump from one such strip to another, constantly changing direction. In addition, when changing the line of movement, the sled moves by inertia, overtaking and tugging at you. In general, a rather nervous story. It’s very difficult to admire beauty on the go. It was for this reason that, especially when the stripes of “good ice” completely disappeared, it was easier to just walk, taking off your skates. Thank God that the top of my boots - (LaSportiva Spantik - allowed me to walk more or less comfortably. My colleagues in plastic climbing boots found it much less comfortable to walk.
• Degrading ice of various formations. We have 15% of the route. The most brutal! Riding through such an ambush on skates is terrifying! The speed drops to 4-6 kilometers per hour (almost like walking), and you also need to work with poles! In my opinion, it’s not logical to skate through such an ambush - the speed is only a little faster, but the energy consumption is many times higher! To effectively navigate such surfaces, trekking shoes with mini crampons are ideal.
• Snow on ice. (less than 1% of the route). The popularity of traveling on the ice of Baikal lies precisely in an amazing feature local nature- most of the snow is simply blown off the ice on the western shore of Lake Baikal. However, there were small pieces of shallow, 5-10 centimeters, snow. Their main trouble is that if you “fly” onto such an “island” on high speed, there is a high probability of falling, since the speed of movement in such areas instantly drops!
• Hummocks (less than 1% of the route). Going through hummocks is tough! The speed drops to 500 meters per hour, the loaded sled constantly turns over, and it’s easier to turn over yourself! There is only one reason when passing hummocks is justified - if you cannot go around them! It would be ideal to have photographs from the air in order to find the shortest path between the hummocks or their narrowest places, but of course there is no such possibility and we had to act on a whim. Fortunately, their height almost never exceeded 50-70 centimeters, and from the height of human growth it was quite possible to view the ships. Although we are lucky, the hummocks can reach 1.5-2 meters in height!! Experienced ice walkers on Lake Baikal advise always going around the hummocks “seaward”, i.e. not from the shore, but moving further from it. It is believed that the main hummocks are localized near the coast and prominent capes.
• Cracks. Despite the abnormally warm weather there were not many cracks. On average, there is one crack every 2-5 kilometers. Where it was not far to go around them (move along them until they end), we did this. When there is no opportunity, we crossed them. Cracks differ in width and “degree of openness.” The widest crack we came across was about 70 centimeters wide. To cross it, we brought the sled to the very edge, thereby giving slack for the rope, and stepped over it without taking off our skates. Most often, we found areas where a crack was blocked by some kind of ice floe, and we simply moved along this ice floe to the other side. The vast majority of open cracks were between 10 and 30 centimeters wide. We crossed such cracks on the move, almost without slowing down, simply stepping over them in a skating motion (similar to the technique of roller skating when driving onto a curb, for example).

And this also happens (the guys walked parallel to us, on the same days, but on bicycles)

Already on the second day of the hike, we realized that due to the warm weather and scorching sun, the ice condition worsened sharply after 14-15 hours. Skates, especially those of participants with a large weight and a short blade length, began to crush even black ice!!! The correct tactics in such cases are early departures in order to cover the planned distance for the day before lunch (similar to the tactics of spring hiking in the forest, when the speed of movement on the morning crust is several times higher than the speed of movement in the afternoon, when the snow “releases”).

• Plan your hike in late February - early March, the ice is still good, the days are longer and warmer.
• Take it further out to sea, the ice is usually better further from the coast.
• Don't go solo (crack)
• Have a supply of gas in case of bad weather and overnight stays on ice
• Walkie-talkies are very useful!
• Have several backup exit points on your route in case of bad weather and unforeseen conditions

Our team

Dmitry Shepelev

Jean-Philippe Birmele

Dimitri Medvedieff

Sebastien Teysseyre

Arnaud Tisserant & Sophie Ayche

Conclusions on a skating trip on the ice of Lake Baikal

A small comic trailer about our skating trip on the ice of Lake Baikal. Parts of the video were shot on an iPhone 5, and I'm still planning to edit a more serious film. But my hands haven’t gotten around to it yet... Shot on an iPhone 5 camera. Cameraman: Dmitry Kovinov. Sound - Apple.

Or just an awesome video about what ice is like in Sweden!

And this is just a beautiful video about Baikal!