The documentary is from Yukon Arctic Ultra on Vimeo.
Wow! The Yukon Arctic Ultra Race looks really cool! Hey, I would love to participate in it and try my guts, but not in Canada. In Siberia, definitely! Especially in my lovely Yakutia!
What is the Yukon Arctic Ultra? Read the race info… (more…)
A Russian boat RUS in Clyde River, Nunavut. Photo by CBC.ca
Adventure enthusiasts from the Russian city of Ivanovo were reported to be the first sailers, who have crossed the Polar Circle on an air-inflated trimaran. It happened on Aug. 5th, 2011. Last Satuday, their boat called “Rus” have already made it to the Clyde River in Nunavut, Canada.
When Canadians saw their strange-looking 7.6-metre trimaran, they called it as a homemade boat “made out of bamboo, rope and duct tape.”
Here is what CBC.ca wrote:
“Absolutely fascinating. I’ve never seen the likes of it in my life,” said Constable Rolland Lavoie, who’s with the RCMP in Clyde River. “I would expect that a trip of this sort to be on a huge cruise boat, something huge, but this is something out of Gilligan’s Island, for crying out loud. Very Interesting.”
Ok. Who are these Russian sailers?
The 2011 Uummannaq Polar Institute Summer Expedition. To the North of Greenland.
Aaaaa, it’s my big honour to be one of Ole Jorgen Hammeken‘s many friends. He is the most recognizable Greenlandic man, who attracts the world’s attention to Greenland, its people and climate issues.
It were him and his wonderful wife, who run together Uummannaq Children’s Home in the settlement called Uummannaq.
It was them, who host Galya Morrell and Joel Spiegelman‘s Uummannaq Music project.
Certainly, they are those people, who share Uummannaq Polar Institute‘s vision, i.e. to conserve Greenland’s local culture and promote educational programs for young Inuit people.
UPI was founded in 2007 by Ann Andreasen and was inaugurated in 2008 by HSH the Prince Albert II of Monaco, Jean Malaurie, a distinguished French ethnographer, and by Arthur Chilingarov, polar explorer and Vice-President of the Russian Parliament.
Polar explorers are very extraordinary, very interesting and very talented people. Whatever they do, they do it with big inspiration and… creativity!
Here is the example. Right now Jim McNeil, known also as Ice Warrior, is completing the polar training under his leadership in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway.
It’s so fascinating to read his training updates on his blog. It’s more like reading chapters of your lovely daily book. Some abstracts appear to be so poetic and so romantic!
A new video from Galya Morrell and Joel Spiegelman‘s Uummannaq Music project. Created and performed by Kevin Morrell.
The video information:
Uummannaq! is written and performed by Kevin Morrell is based on a true story, except for the parts that aren’t. Kevin, the NYC iliarsuk, lonely and hungry, heads to Uummannaq to meet Pipaluk, the beauty.
Glossary: Iliarsuk=”fatherless, orphan”. Koodlooktoo =”the famous Greenlandic orphan who used to live closer to the Pole than any other human being and who caught the white owl for Adm. Robert Peary”. Pipaluk=”the little small nothing”.
Needless to say, that in the country of understatements, which Greenland definitely is, “the little small nothing” means no less than “the great big something”. We also know that every great hunter and every great leader once used to be an orphan.
Galya Morrell, the co-founder of the Uummannaq Music project, says about the video: (more…)
About the documentary: Silent Snow depicts an Inuit search for solutions to the chemical poisoning of the world. Trailer for a feature length film. Expected release: Spring 2011. Film by Jan van den Berg and Pipaluk Knudsen-Ostermann.
“There’s new evidence that even in the glaciers pesticides have been stored. If we stop the production now, there is still a lot more waiting for us. Global warming makes this process even faster… I am telling a sad story…” the narrator.
Moki Kokoris’ review, (more…)
This year Philips has launched a pretty interesting experiment project. The company gave Philips Wake-up Lights to all residents of Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town, in order to see, if its clinically proven claim of ‘waking you up feeling refreshed’ is still true in the extremes of an arctic winter.
Longyearbyen is the centre of Svalbard on the western coast of Spitsberge and considered also as the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago in southern Adventfjorden.
Well, frankly saying, I have no idea of what cold weather extremes they’ve got in Longyearbyen, but apparently they experience the same lack of sun lights in winter as Yakutia’s Arctic settlement of Tiksi… in the course of four long months. So it is worth to follow the project via its facebook fan page or Flickr pool.
By the way, enjoy more fantastic Longyearbyen pictures! (more…)
It might sound insane, but I love the COLD… Cold weather. Cold climate. Gorgeous angel-like snow. Fragile mighty ice. Unique northern peoples with their traditional way of living… That’s why this blog still exists… and hope, it will have further development 
Please, watch the above video slideshow presented by the Uummannaq Music project (the world’s northernmost moving music platform based at the Children’s Home in Uummannaq, Greenland, 590 kilometers north of the Artic Circle) and share Greenland kids’ JOY ABOUT COLD!
On my side, in the Siberian city of Yakutsk, it’s getting colder and colder. The previous night, on September 12, 2010, was already with -1C. In two days, we are promised to have -4C and even snow-n-rain by the end of the current week! Today I received a message from George Lessard, our Canadian friend, who informed about today’s first frost in Yellowknife!
So… it’s the right time to declare the start of the new Cold United season.
Plans? A lot!
We will follow major significant volunteer/non-governmental/ordinary people’s projects dedicated to cold regions like Polar Circle with Arctic, Siberia, Scandinavia, Greenland, Canada, Alaska… and, yeah, Antarctic. Like Uummannaq Music and other great ones listed on the Cold-Related Projects page.
We will try to keep sharing northern peoples’ experience of living in the cold condition. In my personal turn, I am eager to provide various information on how the life is going on in Yakutsk, the world’s coldest city and capital of the biggest Siberian/Russian region.
Stay tuned and feel free to let us know, what you would love to see on our blog. If you’ve got great cold-related initiatives or proposals, inform us via the Cold United contact form, our Facebook page or the Twitter account @ColdUnited.
Bruce Parry (with a tripod) and his team in Yakutsk, Yakutia/Siberia
Hurray! Bruce Parry with his IndusFilm crew is in the Siberian town of Yakutsk! What’s he doing here?
Bruce Parry (born 17 March 1969, in Hythe, Hampshire, England) is a former Royal Marine instructor who is now a TV presenter and adventurer, known particularly for the documentary programme series Tribe (known as Going Tribal in the United States), co-produced by the BBC and the Discovery Channel. Resource: Wiki.
I met Bruce Parry two days ago on Lenin Avenue in Yakutsk. Actually he and his team arrived early, on June 17th. They have already visited a village near the town, went for two celebrations of Ysyakh, Yakut national holiday. One was held in Gorny ulus (three hours by a car from Yakutsk) and Megino-Kangalassky region (just in the front of Yakutsk on the opposite bank of the Lena River). On the day of the meeting, they visited Epl Diamonds’ diamonds-cutting and jewelry’s factories and drove around the downtown shooting general views of the city.
First, I would love to tell the story of how his arrival happened to be possible. (more…)
My photo of women waiting for a bus in Yakutsk in winter was published in “The Encyclopedia of Weather & Climate Change. A Complete Visual Guide.” Can you believe it? Aaaah. I don’t. This is like a dream.
Funny, but a year ago, when I received Mr. Lachlan McLaine’s message titled “Image query”, I didn’t pay much attention to it. Actually, I did, but I couldn’t realize how big the project Mr. McLaine mentioned was, though he wrote that he was currently working as a project editor on a book titled “The Encyclopedia of Weather”. He said, “It’s a big project with an emphasis on good informative photos and illustrations.”
At that moment, his words didn’t mean anything special to me. I was just an ordinary Siberian guy, who was voluntarily developing YakutiaToday.com, the website dedicated to my lovely Siberian region called the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). And here I received the message saying “The picture wanted.”
First, I was just happy at the fact that my old picture posted on the mentioned web resource deserved any attention. Second, I said, “Why not? Take it, but, please, give the link to my site.” Third, I asked Mr. McLaine, “Is it possible to get one copy?” My intention was simple, I wanted to practice my English. My weather terminology is still weak, you know.
One year passed, and here we are. See further what was the final result. I am so happy. I am ready to repeat “Thank you, Mr. McLaine!” as many as possible. This post is one of my ways of saying “Thank!” (more…)
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