Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - (Summer) Roads in Northern European Russia

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- Northern and Central Asia (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/northern-and-central-asia/)

- - (Summer) Roads in Northern European Russia (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/northern-and-central-asia/summer-roads-northern-european-russia-80018)

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxd (Post 536610)

eurasiaoverland, thanks for the description and the great pictures!

may I ask, why you didn't go by truck from Syktyvkar to Toritsko-Pechorsk?

I hear Man-Pupu-Ner is currently closed to hikers so I contemplating a helicopter tour from Toritsko-Pechorsk in Summer 2016.

I left the truck in a secure car park in Syktyvkar, partly because I did not know if there would be a secure car park in Troitsko-Pechorsk, partly because I don't like driving somewhere only to have to back-track, and partly because I had a clutch problem and wanted to avoid rough roads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eurasiaoverland (Post 522213)

They can also be reached by snowmobile or on a very rugged (and illegal) track from Sverdlovsk Region, which gets very close to the Dyatlov Pass.
EO

Are you talking about the rough 4X4 track that starts at Ivdel and is used by the Russian 4X4 clubs and passed through the Dyatlov Pass? Why do you say that it is illegal?

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxd (Post 536610)

I hear Man-Pupu-Ner is currently closed to hikers

Where did you get that information, any idea why it is closed?

Video fo 4x4 drive up to Man-pupu-nyor-rocks and Dyatlov pass

Manpupunyor has now re-opened for groups hiking in with a guide (which I did last year).

Any other entry to the reserve is illegal, this is a strictly protected UNESCO World Heritage Nature Reserve, and it is illegal to enter by car. Rangers up at the lager a little east of the rocks will fine you if they are present (and usually they are in summer).

A friend of mine entered illegally by snowmobile early last year, I think the fine was something like 50 or 100 USD, so you could just take that as a high entry fee and hope that the rangers are not there to collect it.

The track there looks extremely rugged, is not maintained, and you will have a tough time in the event of a breakdown.

Best of luck,

EO

Thanks for the reply, as I am planning to be there in 2020, I am sure things will change (most likely the fine amount), I might take my chances and jut pay the fine, as it is one of the tougher 4x4 tracks on many Russian 4x4 club's bucket list. The track does not go all the way to the rocks, you have to hike the last 5 or so kilometers. What might happen in the future is that the track might get closed down further down, before it even gets to Dyatlov's pass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maria41 (Post 521692)

Hi EO,

I plan to leave late May / early June 2016, from the UK and finish in Bishkek mid-September. We have booked with Sambor to pick up our bikes there and bring them back to the UK by truck.

So we have a good 3 1/2 months, but that will include exploring a bit more Kyrgyzstan and trying to get into Tajikistan and ride part of the Pamir.

From Arkhangelsk we will probably ride south by the M8, then take the bridge across from Ust-Vaga to Chamovo, then continue south and across the river to Kotlas.

Then ride East via Kuratovo to Perm then East North to Khanty Mansiysk, then Surgut to Nizhnevartovsk. Then we will come across a “wall”, i.e. the massive River Ob. We will take a Ferry to go all the way to Tomsk as there does not seem to be any road south from Nizhnevartovsk to Tomsk.

According to Google there are quite few alternatives avoiding Tobolsk, but whether these roads are doable in the summer remain to be seen:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Arkhangelsk+Oblast,+Russia/Nizhnevartovsk,+Khanty-Mansi+Autonomous+Okrug,+Russia/@59.2984121,62.0907775,6z/data=!4m16!4m15!1m5!1m1!1s0x441a6049e61899b1:0x102 a3a583f195e0!2m2!1d42.5884191!2d63.2852803!1m5!1m1 !1s0x436d3ea933d05687:0xd611216bd7fa542d!2m2!1d76. 5433724!2d60.9431185!2m1!1b1!3e0

My itinerary is vague, as we like to remain flexible.

I hope as we get on the way, to get “inside“ knowledge from locals and bikers and be able to avoid the main roads and use smaller tracks instead.
That is the whole point of taking two small enduro bikes.
We will also use the very useful waypoints file from Walter Colebatch.

I am also keen on using Airbnb as much as possible to get to know the locals, get inside knowledge about roads and what to visit, and practice my Russian!

Just want to update this with a little more information from a 2018 winter trip which I did...

-Between Tomsk and Strezhevoy (near Nizhnevartovsk) there is a winter road through the Vasyugan Swamp. It does not follow the Ob exactly. In summer there is no road between Kargasok and Alexandrovsk / Strezhevoy. There is a ferry (or perhaps hydrofoil) but I do not know if it takes vehicles (a hydrofoil certainly won't take cars).

-There are winter roads between Nadym and Salekhard, across the Ob from Salekhard to Labytnangi, and down the Ob from Labytnangi via Tegi to Priobye. In summer there are no roads, but there is a car ferry from Priobye to Salekhard.

-There is no road in summer or winter through the Polar Urals. The winter road has not been maintained since Soviet times. There is a railway line, and there is a car transport service between Labytnangi and Ukhta. It's a cargo train, so passengers must take a separate passenger train.

-On satellite maps there is a visible road Ukhta - Nizhny Odes - Pripolyarny - Khulimsunt - Yugorsk / Nyagan. This is a private Gazprom road and is not open to the public.

EO