Thanks a lot Walter!

The Vilyuysk - Mirny - Lensk Road is marked on my maps. I'm interested in meeting as many natives as possible, hopefully seeing some herders etc; any idea whether the above road would give me more local interaction than driving on the Lena? I'm veering towards using the road until Lensk though I imagine the lena Pillars (south of Yakutsk) would be quite a sight in winter.

To go from Vitim to Bodaybo and onto the BAM and Baikal would be quite a trip, but I would not want to do it if there is no other traffic. I have no experience of driving on frozen rivers, and I imagine there are potentially catastrophic patches of thin ice due to currents or other local phenomena, which would be totally undetectable. It would be a dream to drive across frozen Baikal though. Do you think the western BAM (Taksimo to Ust-Kut) is doable in winter (I guess more so than summer...)?

A friend visiting Khanty Mansiysk right now just confirmed that there is an ice road on the Ob, so this crazy plan is becoming a real possibility. Only the Labitnangi - Vorkuta leg is uncertain now. Just need a big, petrol 4x4 and an Eberspeicher heater

Any idea if they sell petrol along the Kolyma Highway in winter? I heard most traffic is diesel trucks, though this would require tank / line heaters I imagine.

Will update if / when I make it!

Cheers

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.