Road from Yakutia to Magadan
 

Hello

We are on the Bam Road.
We want to go further to Magadan.
Today a Russian Guy told us that the Road between Yakutsk and Magadan was
Washed away some time ago.
He said it was only 100 Km away from Yakutia.
Has anyone more details?

Greetings

I doubt there is a problem or if there is one, I doubt it will be for long. Yakutsk to Magadan via Ust Nera is Federal Road which receives many many millions of dollars in road funding yearly and is constantly being maintained and upgraded.

There can be temporary floods that close the road for hours or even a few days, but teams of bulldozers will be waiting to rebuild it as soon as the water goes down. May is the main month for flooding. There may have been some flooding in May. There may even still be some in June. But the road is fully maintained. Any closures are temporary. Any damage gets repaired.

hmmm, not sure, but in a seriously garbled translation this could be referring to the Aldan River, for which you need to take a ferry?

High water?
 

Hello Colebatch.

Ok. That is exactly what I was thinking.

Have you heard something about water levels?
I'm a little afraid that we are to early.
What is your "professional" guess?

Thank you.

Today, in fact right now, we are leaving Severobaikalsk.

Greetings

you are early ... and winter was late this year

You have a much higher probability of significant water crossings or washed away sections on the main highway.

If there is any rain, the ground will probably not be able to absorb much of it at all as it will still be frozen very close to the surface.

A few years ago Oisin went in June and had no problems on the Federal Road to Magadan. But I think he was lucky.

I dont know if you will be lucky or not. And I dont know if you plan the Federal Road or the Old Summer Road. I dont know anyone who tried the Old Summer Road in June except of course Ewan McGregor's crew... and they were unable to do it.

... BTW, another reason I dont believe this story about 100 km from Yakutsk the road was washed away - is for the first 350 km from Yakutsk, there are no flowing rivers. You are in a giant river basin between the Lena and Aldan that is totally flat. It can be muddy there, but nothing gets washed away. Washed away sections can only really be after Tyoply Klyuch, once you get a good 500 km from Yakutsk.

I think something has been lost in translation, or its the usual Russian talk where they tell you everything you want to do is impossible.

Get into the habit of taking local advice with scepticism.

Kolyma Highway
 

Hello Colebatch

We want to do the Old summer Road.
But we will see, how the weather is.
We are now in Taksimo.

Until here the water was very low
Looks like we are lucky.

I also post you the message I received from Bolot. (Askyakutia.com)

Greetings

Edwin



Hi, Edwin,

Since yesterday the Kolyma road is open now. It was restored and now passible.

As a proof see the attached photo.

Which transport are you riding?

Best wishes,
Bolot.

2013/6/19 WordPress <wordpress@askyakutia.com>
Hello.

I'm on my way to Yakutsk and further on to Magadan.

Today a nice Russian told me that the M56 is interrupted.
He said it was washed away about 100 Km after Yakutia.

Do you have any informations about

No details but something happened out there.

Three weeks ago, there was mentioned on Russian TV about a road washed away somewhere around Yakutsk.
A Russian friend Alex, told me that he talked to friends who live about 800 km before Yakutsk, between Irkutsk and Yakutsk. They had been evacuated by helicopter, from a small village Reobrezenka, or something like that, because everything was flooded, also the road was washed away.
Apparently ice had been blocking a river, when the ice broke under the water pressure, there was a big flood. There had been an effort to blow a hole in the ice to relief the water pressure.
That did not go well, they planned to come back the next day with more explosives, but during the night the ice dam broke.
Alex also mentioned that between Yakutsk and Magadan there had been some flooding and damage to the road. Some 700-800 km from Yakutsk.
He told me this because I plan to go there in 2014.