OK, so the basic plan is to drive Feb - Mar 2017 from Magadan back to Europe using the main TSH as little as possible. I'm looking here for specific information on winter routes, when the rivers and swamps are frozen and the whole area becomes far more accessible.

I've found very patchy information online about a winter road on the Lena River. My intention is to drive from Yakutsk to either Severobaikalsk on the BAM or Ust-Kut or Bratsk. If possible I'd like to find a way to Lake Baikal, but it's not essential. I doubt there would be many options anyhow.

From the maps I have, I see two formal (supposedly all-weather) road, though I have no idea whether or not they exist. They are

- A road running from Yakutsk along the left bank of the Lena as far as Olyokminsk
- A road running north, looping through Mirny to Lensk on the Lena

Do these roads actually exist?

From either Olyokminsk, or Lensk, I suspect there is a winter road, either on the river surface, or parallel to the river. Does anyone know how far this road goes?

Is it possible at all to go from Olyokminsk or Lensk through Kirensk to Ust Kut?

Is fuel (petrol, not diesel) available in these places?

How about a road cutting south, maybe along the Vitim River to connect to the BAM?

I'd be very interested indeed to get any information on this...

Beyond this I'm hoping to drive from Tomsk to Nizhnevartovsk on the Ob, up to Lyabitnangi / Salekhard to visit Yamal, then try to get to Vorkuta, though I have really no idea if the Lyabitnangi - Vorkuta route is driveable. From Vorkuta it should be straightforward.

Thanks for any info

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.