Kolyma Highway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kolyma Highway, also known as the Road of Bones (Russian: Федеральная автомобильная дорога «Колыма», "Federal Automobile Highway 'Kolyma'"), is a road through far Eastern Russia. It connects Magadan and Yakutsk. The road is 2032 kilometres long. It was constructed in the Stalin era of the USSR by Dalstroy construction directorate. The first stretch was built by the inmates of the Sevvostlag labor camp in 1932. The construction continued (by inmates of gulag camps) until 1953.
The road is treated as a memorial, as the bones of the people who constructed it were incorporated into the road[1].
The area is extremely cold during the winter. Two towns by the highway, Tomtor and Oymyakon, both claim the coldest inhabited place on earth (often referred to as -71.2°C, but might be -67.7°C) outside of Antarctica. Some believe actual winter temperatures reached in nearby highlands may be in the -80°Cs.
The road is in a state of disrepair and is not untraversable by standard road vehicles because of washed-out bridges and sections of road reclaimed by streams. During winter, frozen water actually helps river crossings.
After the fall of the Soviet goverment, the road was first travelled by Western motorcyclists in summer 1995 by the Mondo Enduro expedition. Subsequent traverses include Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's round-the-world motorcycle journey, made into a television series, book and DVD, all named Long Way Round. It was also cycled in the winter by Alastair Humphreys and Rob Lilwall. It was also followed on foot by Rosie Swale-Pope in 2005.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Road of Death by Brother Gene Thomson of Kiev's Faith Mission. Retrieved 21 January 2007.
[edit] Books
- Vince, Austin; Bloom, Louis et al (2006) Mondo Enduro. Ripping Yarns.com. ISBN 1-904466-28-1.
- McGregor, Ewan; Boorman, Charley (2005) Long Way Round Time Warner. ISBN 0-7515-3680-6.
