Talk about the coldest self-driving video.

-What is the concept of 48? It is estimated that many people have never experienced it in their whole lives, but this temperature is very common in the famous Oymyakon, even setting a historical record that the highest temperature is only -9.3 and the lowest temperature is as low as -7 1.2.

Therefore, when Ivan, a native of Yakutia, heard that Nishalin and I were going to drive to Oymyakon, he strongly opposed it on the grounds that the risk factor of driving in winter was too high, and it was also the notorious "Kairema Bones Road" (refer to the first article on the front page). The temperature was below 40 degrees below zero, and it traveled nearly 1000 kilometers, not to mention the destination of Oymyakon. In case something happens, it will be goodbye forever.

Is Oymyakon really that scary? This small village in the center of the Siberian basin is now home to more than 600 Yakutians. It was once considered as "the oldest permafrost settlement" and has existed for more than 800 years.

In Yakutia, Oymyakon means "unfrozen spring", hence the name, because there are hot springs in the village. The book "Three Hundred Years of Siberia" published during the Soviet period contains: Oymyakon is 63 north latitude, about 750 meters above sea level, and the daytime in winter is only 3.5 hours. Although it is not in the Arctic Circle, the sunshine time is no different from that in the Arctic Circle, so the temperature is below 0 for at least 7 months every year.

At our insistence, Ivan still promised to ask someone to find a peer team, without which he could not start; On the other hand, we should buy the necessary deerskin shoes and hats for each of us, buy them directly from the largest deerskin trading center in Yakutsk according to the standards of Yakutsk herders, and then find an old hunter to sew them into shoes and hats.

On the third day, I finally found a self-driving team, and a professional outdoor team in the local area was responsible for the safety of the trip. When we first met the guide Owinov, he explained to us why they used their own cars, because only Russian off-road vehicles and jeeps with blowtorch heating devices can start at outdoor low temperature of MINUS 50 or 60 degrees.

The day before departure, we went to the market and supermarket to buy hot stickers such as fish, meat, pickles and baby warmers. Of course, vodka is essential. Another tour guide said that although vodka can stimulate the potential of trapped human beings at low temperature, it will also greatly consume physical strength and calories. Put a few bottles of vodka in each car, not only for emergency drinking, but also to help local people save themselves.

If it is summer, two old drivers take turns driving. It takes only 20 hours to drive from Yakutsk to Oymyakon, but it takes at least 2-3 days in winter, because there are only a few villages and towns along this road, and once it snows, it is basically 30 cm thick. Even with a snow sweeper, refueling will be a big problem.

After four hours of discussion, 20 people (not counting guides) from nine cars reached an agreement to divide the 924 kilometers into four days, which not only improved the safety performance of the vehicles, but also allowed more time for sightseeing and shooting. After leaving the city, all vehicles should be fully charged with electricity, fuel tanks and spare barrels (Yakutsk allows vehicles to carry spare fuel, but the maximum amount cannot exceed 15 liters).

To everyone's surprise, just as we were leaving the Lena River for the mountains, the windshield of the car that Nishalin and I were riding was frozen and cracked. At first, I didn't care. The tour guide made a decision immediately after checking the car, and let the car return immediately. I looked at the GPS and thermometer when I changed cars: it is located near Yulong Village, 0/40 km away from Yakutsk/Kloc, and the temperature is -47, which is 9 lower than that in the urban area.

This crack is about to return? Honore solemnly said: According to the plan, we will go through several dirt roads to visit the scenic spots. After several times of thermal expansion and cold contraction, the cracked glass will be completely broken. If it is in the wild, the vehicle will be declared scrapped, because the trailer charges 6,543,800 rubles per kilometer, and with the loading and unloading costs, it is almost possible to buy a new car.

Before the sun went down (it began to get dark at 4 o'clock), our motorcade turned into Chulappacha village, which is 240 kilometers away from Yakutsk. It is the first rest stop on the self-driving Kerema highway, but the only hotel in the village has only four rooms. So I divided into two teams, and the other team went to another village 30 kilometers away to settle down.

It suddenly occurred to me that a few years ago, someone claimed to spend the night outdoors in Oymyakon, so I asked the guide, "Have you ever tried to spend the night outdoors at MINUS 60 degrees?" Onov looked at me like a fool: don't believe those people's boasting. If you spend the night outdoors at this temperature, you will be frozen. Poor blood in your body will lead to organ failure. Even Yakutia herders have to burn carbon to maintain their body temperature.

Fortunately, the guide led us to knock on the home of a herder, and a group of people could finally spend the night in a heated room. The girls were arranged in a big room, and I got special care. At least I slept in a "bed" made of several stools and boards, and the others could only be made into a floor.

This man moved from Yakutsk because there is much grass here. As a result, after Russia rebuilt the Kolema Highway on 20 12, his home became half a hotel, and tourists stayed every few days. In order to alert tourists, he simply posted a notice on the wall to remind tourists how to keep healthy in a low temperature environment and how to deal with emergencies such as fires.

As I had to wait for the vehicles of Chula census to meet the next day, I greeted the guide and ran to the mountain to photograph the rare sunrise in Siberia. Fortunately, it didn't snow the night before, and the thickness of snow was about 50 cm. Before sunrise, I set up a tripod and started shooting, only to find that I didn't bring any food and waited for more than an hour at a low temperature of MINUS 50 degrees.

This is one of the biggest crises in my life. Hypoglycemia caused by hunger can make people appear coma-like symptoms in low temperature environment. Fortunately, the guide appeared in time and gradually regained consciousness after eating half a piece of chocolate. I didn't eat the remaining half of the chocolate, so I asked the tour guide to take a photo with the chocolate, which has been brought to the present, because some lessons can only be learned once in my life.

The next stop is Cheryohe, and there are two villages in the middle to rest. In the years before the Kerima Highway was rebuilt and opened, people died on this section almost every year, because there was no internet, no gas station, no restaurant and no hotel for 200 kilometers, and most villagers only went into the city once a month. If there is an accident, it is really hard to scream every day. Therefore, the Russian government has set up three mobile refueling vehicles in this section to ensure that tourists will not have accidents.

Unfortunately, one of the cars in the convoy didn't notice a stone on the side of the road. The car with heating was shaken violently, and the front windshield was cracked, but it was better than the first car, so it could only move forward at a constant speed carefully and could not stand the bumps any more.

Cheryoch was once one of the gulag concentration camps in the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of prisoners not only face great difficulties (frozen soil roads) when building roads leading to this section, but also are accompanied by difficulties such as low temperature, disease and insufficient food supply. Therefore, it is called the "road of white bones" between Yakutsk and Magadan. In summer, bones often appear on the road, and they don't disappear until Russia rebuilds the road.

In 20 18, a non-profit organization opposed to the war set up a memorial to prisoners of war on the roadside, with no graves and no information records, because the deceased did not leave any information such as name, gender and nationality.

From Cheryohe, the temperature dropped by 65,438+0-2 every 65,438+000 kilometers, and dropped to -67 at the third stop Cibrie (shooting at 65,438+00 at night). For the native guide, this temperature is not available every year, and it also means that the whole area has entered a "humble abode" state, which is unnecessary.

Some people say, "As long as protective measures are taken, -67 is no big deal." This sentence is probably the funniest joke I have ever heard. In Cibrie, in order to prevent cold air from leaking into the room, people have to install four layers of windows, which will be repaired layer by layer after several years of frost cracking. If it is too late, they can only temporarily paste it with low-temperature glue. If this is outdoor, no matter how thick and expensive tents and sleeping bags are, you and I are not super frost-resistant Yakutia and Inuit.

The next morning, when we were ready to refuel, we were told, "Last night's cooling froze the oil circuit, and it will take 6 hours to thaw."

So I just abandoned the car and went hiking. I followed the guide over a hill more than 800 meters before I saw the Osmia Basin, which is said to be the most densely populated area of cedar and fir in Siberia. If the current logging speed in Yakutsk is calculated, it will take 170 years for all logging, and then the first cut forests will grow again.

The Osmia Basin originated from the continental collapse caused by the ice age earthquake, and the surrounding soil accumulated in the basin bit by bit with the rain, so it was considered as the most fertile land by Yakutia people, and the price of reindeer meat remained high.

The road ahead has to climb more than a dozen slopes, and the range of going up and down the slope is not high, but there are also many uncontrollable factors when driving on the snow surface. When checking the car, the guide reminded that if the car slides out of control to the cliff, try to jump if you can, and kneel down and hold your head if you can't jump, so that you can reach the plain without any danger.

On the way, I also met a coal truck that broke down and stalled. It is said that the engine stalled because there was water in the snow cover. With the help of two guides, I finally started the car. Seeing that the two drivers were pale with cold, we sent them some bread, coffee and pasta, and they wolfed down in the car.

In Siberia, drivers will help each other when they see passers-by in trouble, because there is no guarantee that they will need help next time. If it weren't for us, it's hard to say how painful the two drivers would be.

The fifth crisis happened inexplicably, and the car in the best condition suddenly "curled up". Several people tinkered for a long time, but they couldn't find anything wrong. The guide who was going to call for help suddenly thought that the driver of the coal truck who had just left should be able to help, so he drove over for help. Finally, I followed the driver to the coal mine 200 kilometers away, and then I hired a truck to Yakutsk, so that the faulty car could escape the risk of being abandoned.

At this point, only seven of the nine carriages are left, which is full. Fortunately, the five crises occurred more than 500 kilometers ahead, and the follow-up trip was near misses.

Taking this opportunity, our group of talents photographed the wonders of Siberia very well, the most interesting of which was a "Cold Spring". From a distance, we can see the fog, but we put our hands into the water and found it was cold. It was not until I returned to Yakutsk that I got the answer through Ivan: It turned out that this "cold spring" was indeed a hot spring, but the underground hot spring was greatly cooled after flowing through the long and narrow frozen soil cave, and when it emerged from the ground, it had lost its proper temperature. Coupled with various factors such as high mineral composition, this cold hot spring lake is formed.

Go through a forest, then cross the Dijilka Mountain where Oymyakon is located, and the front is Oymyakon surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Because there is no forest to keep out the snow, the snow on this mountain road is too thick for the snow sweeper to shovel. It is better to compact the snowy road directly according to the route instead of clearing the snow. Fortunately, Russian-made vehicles have strong performance and there is no problem climbing on snowy roads.

After turning a big bend, I finally reached the coldest residential area of human beings: Oymyakon (bottom left).

If you ask me how I feel about driving all the way, I will answer: Of the five crises that occurred during this journey (and one was a teammate's fever), only 1 was caused by human negligence, and the other four were caused by natural forces. If Ivan says, any accident is farewell. Thus, how tough are the locals who can overcome the low temperature environment in Oymyakon?