MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Our caravan of cars leaves Perm to cross Verkhoturye, Yugorsk, Igrim and Muzhi and proceed further on across the Yamal Peninsula. Winter roads, weather and views keep changing. What remains unchanged is the people - those who have opted for the North.

From Kharp village to Polyarny ghost town: delving into reality

We drive from Kharp village towards Polyarny ghost town, which is located at the 110th kilometer of the railway line between Chum and Labytnangi - it is a part of the Trans-Polar Railway Line, which has never been completed. You can read about the first part of our trip here.

The tundra gives way to a thin forest, and, all of a sudden, against the background of a transparent-blue sky, white peaks of the Rai-Iz mountain range get outlined. The wind carves the snow the way it pleases, creating whimsical snow ridges. The snow crust is strong enough to hold human weight.

Years ago, the village had houses with central heating, a school, a kindergarten, a leisure center, a public sauna and shops. The settlement was closed in the early 2000s. All abandoned settlements look similar - here belong Dikson village’s island territory and Tiksi’s empty apartment houses. As for Polyarny, we can see snow inside the houses, broken floors and scattered personal belongings there too.

What a miserable view. We were still driving to Polyarny - some 40 kilometers were left to cover by quite a good winter road, as we were promised. Expedition tourism is unpredictable. We covered half the distance rather smoothly, and then we met ATVs, which ruined the road.

"Two of the five vehicles are stock cars [lacking a necessary upgrade - TASS], and one of them has been upgraded incorrectly - this is why the road was too rough for them," traveler Sergei Saiman explained to us. "Besides, it was their first experience on such a road."

Driving on a snow road is slow and tiresome. Thus, this form of winter traveling is not very popular. Not everyone will want to be pressing the snow one centimeter after another to make a road. In certain places cars have to move slowly, crawling for hours. In the evening, the northern lights appear slowly in the sky to splash across the horizon later on. They emerge above the mountains and disappear. The air temperature falls to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

A local, a Nenets, driving a snowmobile with a sledge attached, came to us, offering help.

"In places like this, money does not matter. What matters is life. People treat others the way they would like themselves to be treated. In the North it is especially obvious: people are few, the conditions are severe and it is freezing cold all the time. The latter 'peel' anything insincere, artificial off people," Saiman said.

We spent the night in the cars. In the morning, at dawn, the mountains dressed in pink and gold.

"A regular person will hardly have a chance to visit a place like this. However, it is in such situations that people receive a strong charge of knowledge, experience and energy. It is like taking a few personal development courses at a time. Many have seen their week points and have gained the skill of cooperation in complicated conditions," Sergei continued.

The only tourist accommodation in Polyarny is at the Pereval (Mountain Pass) camp base. Nowadays, locals and geologists stay there.

"There is the best cafe in Polyarny!" - Yuri, Saiman’s co-driver, is making coffee for each of us. The snow, a burner and cookies make us almost feel cozy amid the tundra and freezing temperatures.

We can see a passing train. The driver waves to us and gives a whistle.

Back at night, a few cars from the Off Road Salekhard Club joined us. We helped out a few underequipped cars. Here comes an ATV.

One of the tourists got happy to see that his cell phone found a signal. "You will never believe what’s happening," he shouted. "An ATV is pulling me!"

The ATV moves so confidently that the driver does not seem to feel the pulled car.

"This is the right vehicle for the North. Anyway, I’ll upgrade mine and will be back here."

We return to Salekhard.

Extreme tourism

Emerging from the darkness and the winter road, the chums (Nenets tents) with Christmas decorations seem unreal. Similarly amazing are the laid tables inside the chums, the music, a warm toilet and a sauna. We are not far from Yar-Sale settlement, at the Sava Syo ethnic tourist center.

"I’ve come to Salekhard from Tyumen. Return tickets were not available and I decided to visit Yar-Sale. For one week I communicated with local people. All of a sudden, over there, behind the houses, I saw the tundra: it seemed endless. I was so moved. Here is life, and right next to it there is a desert. Only later on could I understand how wonderful the tundra is," said Sergei Ralnikov, director general of the YamalTour Company.

Sergei returned home, changed a sedan for a pickup truck, got packed and in two weeks was back in Yar-Sale - to stay for good.

"I got bored with the city. Shops, money and concrete. Here, you can see sincere relations between people. You don’t have to lock the car. If you drop a purse - be sure it will be returned to you safely. At first, this life seemed boring, but the more you stay here, the more you learn the people and get busy - you see how different life here is, and the huge problems that exist. Quite often here people live ‘despite of’, which is a painful observation."

Sergei opened the first taxi service in the village. It was developing rapidly and now includes 19 cars. Later on, he sold the business.

"The locals were curious. For example, a Nenets could take a taxi out of curiosity - to have a ride from their own house to the neighbor's place. Later on, I opened a service center, then a shop of spare parts for snow bikes," Sergei said. "One day, head of the local administration told me - ‘What an adventurer you are!’ Right! There’s no moving forward without adventurers. We make the world move."

In January 2021, the center in Sava Syo welcomed first visitors.

"I came to the administration and said: 'I want to rent a piece of tundra.' 'Sergei, are you mad? Why?' was the answer."

The construction process, which continued when the air temperature remained at minus 47 degrees, was completed within 20 days. Sergei invested his own money, and got some assistance from the local employment center. The priority to occupy new jobs is given to the indigenous peoples. Sergei now employs 21 personnel, and plans to employ 43 rather soon.

Getting to Sava Syo is no problem in winter and spring - from early December to mid-May. Later on, till July, even getting to Yar-Sale is out of question. From July to late September the mainland is accessible by water or helicopter only.

"Why here? We can see two objectives. The first one is to provide a psychological relaxation for the locals - here there is no other place to go to. People bring their families here. We will organize national sports competitions. My dream is to keep the Nenets traditions and lifestyles. Very many aspects are fading away, but there is so much good about them. The other objective is to attract tourists - both domestic and foreign ones."

A Nenets family, working in the center, lives there. They have moved to a flat in Yar-Sale, but for nomads it is hard to get used to limited space. Sergei invited them to work. "Here they are busy all the time. Even the chum - it needs ‘redressing’ every month - to move the poles, otherwise they are bending gradually, and to fix the covers."

"Our typical guest, in my opinion, is a person between 35 and 50, with big traveling experience who wants something genuine. This guest can truly enjoy sitting by the oven with a cup of tea after being out in the frost."

To make the center profitable, it should host 40 tourists a month. Sergei’s opinion is the state should offer some initial financial support for at least one year. "I am not sure how much money an investor must have to cope with everything here. Paying for this infrastructure is very complicated."

Tourists, mostly from abroad, come to Yamal having direct deals with the locals, Sergei said. "They stay with deer herders for months. They value and appreciate the reality. Russian tourists expect more comfort and many are not prepared for the absence of civilization."

What the North does to people

Sergei takes guests from Salekhard to Salemal. From there, tourists are taken to nomad camps by snow bikes. They live for a few days next to the deer breeders. "They wake up in cold chums, travel to the herd, eat ethnic food - everything is real."

"We have a booking from a foreigner for this summer. I am very curious to see this person, who has decided to stay in a chum in the middle of nowhere," Sergei laughed.

Water collected from melted snow, oil lamps and a sauna where your sponge is moss (sphagnum, which absorbs moisture well and which has certain bactericidal properties) are among the local highlights. Sergei wants guests at Sava Syo to have a rest from their habitual world. He regrets cell phones work here.

"The North is the soul. It is here. Look, what the North does to people. I have come here incidentally to stay for good. Here, despite the severe cold, you can feel human warmth," Sergei said. "This is because life is tough here and everyone helps each other."

Wood is stored between Yar-Sale and Sava Syo - nothing but bushes grow here, thus every summer wood is transported here by water. Every nomad family is given 11 m3 of wood for free.

The logistics is complicated. "Though Tyumen is nearby, it is much more expensive to transport cargo from there than from Moscow. Once a week, on Thursdays, a train leaves Moscow for Labytnangi, where things are reloaded to cars, and further on, if it’s summer, onto a barge, which comes here within two days. Thus, the costs are high."

In winter, the temporary snow road is a solution. In spring, Sergei continued, it is very interesting: "At first, I was shocked, but later on it seemed quite all right. You sail along the Ob with water to the right and water to the left, but in the middle there is pressed ice of the winter road, which still remains. As for trucks - if they can drive, then Yar Sale will have food products, if they cannot - then not."

"If you are on the winter road, anyone will stop to be able to wonder if you need something. When I see a snow bike with sledge, I definitely will ask: hey, man, what’s up there? Imagine, he’s there with the wife and kids in the sledge. Things may be fine. But at times, people may need assistance," Sergei said. "Whenever you drive past villages, give me a buzz. It’s a rule here - to know where to search for those who may get lost. The weather may change immediately: from absolutely still to a storm, which covers everything with snow."

We seem to understand the traveler, who has booked a chum in the middle of nowhere.