The Goliath Expedition

The expedition has been using multi entry year long business visas for the last couple of years in Russia, but at the same time crippled by the very restrictive special travel permits required in the Chukotka region. Now, as we are about to leave Chukotka, the Russian Government has recently changed its visa procedure and regulations. This created a delay in obtaining the visa for my return trip this winter. The year long visa now carries a restriction only allowing a traveller 90 days in country within every 180. So 90 days in, 90 days out over the span of the year long visa. We explained our case and requested that the expedition be allowed to remain within the country for the year’s duration.

On April 8th, I received my Russian visa with the 90 day restriction. Given my starting point for the next leg and the time of year, (even without the visa restrictions), things are far from ideal. The added restrictions grossly complicate the situation.

This coming Monday I leave for Nome, Alaska. On Tuesday, April 15th I hope to catch a flight to Anadyr. That’s not a guaranteed flight. The flight is chartered by ‘Kinross’, a Canadian mining company with mines in the Chukotka region. The flight manifest is controlled by them and their staff get priority. I get a seat if one becomes
available. All going well I leave on that flight, arrive in Anadyr, Chukotka then ship supplies to two waypoints. I then rely on a flight from Anadyr to Pevek. Not the most reliable. Remember it took a whole month to get a flight from Pevek to Anadyr last December.

Let’s say the flight leaves Anadyr a few days after I arrive, that then gets me into Pevek around 20th. Another day or two to get back to the start point, so around 22nd I can expect to pick up the trail again, (best case scenario). If they cannot get me on the flight out of Nome, and I will not know until the last minute, then I’ll have a chance a week later.

My start a point is currently approx 900 miles from the Road of Bones (Kolyma Highway). By mid May I can expect to see the beginning of the ice break up. By the end of May everything will very quickly be returning to water, and I will find
movement increasingly more difficult, if not impractical. By this time I hope to have reached the village of Srednekolymsk on the Kolyma River. This puts me in the middle of the wettest region at the worst time. Progress grinds to a halt at that stage
and planning becomes a guessing game. I will forward extra supplies to the next waypoint at Zyryanka, in the hope that enough snow and ice remains for me to
make it to that last waypoint. By then we’ll be into June. If I can’t make any walking progress from Srednekolymsk, I will have get to Zyryanka by some other means as I will have start my journey out of Russia from there.

Note from Russian contact in the region;

’There is no summer road or route from Srednekolymsk to Zyryanka. In the summer time they have two kinds of transport only, by air (which is very rare) and river (Kolyma River). The winter road (”zimnik”) “Srednekolymsk - Zyryanka”
will close at the end of April. This region has many small rivers and marshes making it extremely difficult to travel on foot. The best way is by the Kolyma River. Before the middle of May it’s still possible to travel by foot on ice all the way down to Zyryanka. The Kolyma River starts to melt in May. Navigation opens in June’.

There are a number of problems here. Getting supplies to those locations could be a very real challenge and plans could fail at any time. Getting out could be harder then getting in, and I must be constantly aware of timings and visa restrictions. Travel and conditions on the ground are very unpredictable. The overriding factor is that around the end of May I have to start the process of pulling out.

Beyond that, the next return to Russia and that region can only happen when I have conditions that allow me to progress. This would be once the rivers have frozen
again, not before late December. This also requires a new visa. It would not be worth re-entering Russia during the months of October / November through December. The expedition must also pay close attention to the crippling cost of each successive return and exit from Russia.

The following winter will see me reach Susuman and the Road of Bones or Kolyma Highway. From there on things hopefully get easier. Initially, we hope to convince the Russian Government to ease restrictions and obtain a year long business visa, escaping the 90 days in 90 days out that will make for extremely slow progress, even if we could afford to keep it up. If the authorities insist that the latter ruling must apply to the expedition, then I cannot expect to reach the border of China until the end of 2010, best case, or early 2011, pending funding.