Arctic 2012

• The Arctic 2012

In the middle of May, I went to a humanitarian trip to the far north of Russia, the route which ran on the Naryan-Mar - about. Vaychag - Amderma.

My main task was to carry out the delivery of the goods - it is 130 kilograms of warm clothes from Moscow to Varnek village. In the spring of Russian Far North looks very picturesque.

To get to the village Varnek, you must first fly to Naryan-Mar. Only once a month from flying helicopters in the most remote villages of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

110 km from the Barents Sea is the administrative center of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug - Naryan-Mar. The city is located above the Arctic Circle and is located in the lower reaches of the Pechora River.

A certain sadness and mystery evoke abandoned ships, scattered throughout the city.

Naryan-Mar CHP.

The town is small and dark, reluctant to stay long in it or not. From early in the morning we are waiting at the airport helicopter MI-8. Waiting for him, we went through all the border area and flew to Varnek. Ticket price is 7000 rubles to one side, just twice a month to fly a helicopter.

Pechora River and many kilometers tundra.

Every minute flight in the direction of the Kara Sea from the window of the helicopter can be seen an increasing amount of snow.

Tundra can be described as an area with marshy lowlands in the harsh climate. This is the area with a very high relative humidity and strong winds, it is worth permafrost. Due to the strong winds most of the plants in the tundra adjacent to the surface of the soil, they are intertwined and thus on the surface look like a pillow.

multi-kilometer oil pipeline stretching from Varandey.

The first stop is the village Karatayka. The population of 600 people.

On the coast of the Barents Sea in the Arctic is one of the housing estates - Karatayka, which in this area is not very much.

On the route, in a helicopter happened my acquaintance with Roman from Nizhny Tagil. Novel here on business for more than four months. It works on the power company that performs a government contract, and until 2013 it is necessary to count the cost of all energy in the settlements of the far north. Really envy him!

We arrived in the village on Varnek Vaychag island. Visibility is zero.

In small towns helicopter costs a maximum of 5 minutes, he did not even turn off your engine. The only place where the jammed engine - this airport in Amderma, where the refueling.

The most important thing is not to linger: it is necessary to quickly unload their cargo (for me - it's 130 kilograms of clothes for the locals), and run back into the helicopter. After all, if someone accidentally forgotten here - it is as much as three weeks.

The helicopter except that I had brought, even brought email and products.

Kara Sea coast.

Like many remote Russian towns, now the city of Amderma is in a semi-abandoned state. In the past, the century there were more than five thousand people.

To give small statistics of the population Amderma: according to estimates in 1969 there lived 2, 9 thousand people, and in 1980 in the village recorded the highest number of inhabitants (according to the village to the 1989 census, a population of 5, 1 ths.. inhabitants). But already since the 90s, the population began to decline sharply. So, in 1998 there were already only 1, 9 thousand people, and in 2002 -. Are generally left to live only 650 people. In 2012, and even less - only 300 people left in the village.