Kolyma Highway

The M56 Kolyma Highway ( _ru. Федеральная автомобильная дорога «Колыма», "Federal Automobile Highway 'Kolyma'"), also known as the Road of Bones, is a road through Russian Far East. It connects Magadan and Yakutsk – actually, Nizhny Bestyakh on the eastern bank of Lena River at Yakutsk, which itself lies on the western bank, as there is no bridge; this is not a problem in the dead of winter, as crossing over ice is the most reliable way to cross a Siberian river. A ferry operates during the short summer. The length of the road is 2032 km. At Nizhny Bestyakh it connects to the Lena Highway, also designated M56. Locally, the road is known simply as Trassa ( _ru. Трасса - "The Route"), or Kolymskaya trassa ( _ru. Колымская трасса - "The Kolyma Route"), since it is literally the only road in the area and therefore needs no special name to distinguish it from other roads.

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, because the bones of the people who died while constructing it were laid beneath or around the road. [Thompson (2002)]

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 traversable by standard road vehicles because of washed-out bridges and sections of road reclaimed by streams. During winter, frozen water actually helps river crossings.

The Road of Bones has become a challenge for adventure motorcyclists. After the fall of the Soviet government, the road was first travelled by Western motorcyclists in summer 1995 by the British Mondo Enduro team (West-East) and by Norwegian wanderer Helge Pedersen (starting from Magadan). Subsequent traverses by motorcycle include Simon Milward in 2001 and also Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's round-the-world motorcycle journey in 2004, 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, followed on foot by Rosie Swale-Pope in 2005 and ridden solo on motorcycle by Adrian Scott (2005).

ee also

*Amur Cart Road

Notes

References

* Bloom, L. R. and Vince, A. E. (2006) "Mondo enduro: the ultimate adventure on two wheels - 44,000 miles in 400 days", Findon: RippingYarns.com, ISBN 1-904466-28-1
* McGregor, E., Boorman, C. and Uhlig R. (2005) "Long way round : chasing shadows across the world", London : Time Warner, ISBN 0-7515-3680-6
* Pedersen, H., Payne, D. and Squire, S. (1998) "10 Years on 2 Wheels: 77 Countries, 250,000 Miles", Elfin Cove Press, ISBN 0-944958-38-9
* Scott, A. (2008) " [http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/AdrianScott The Road Gets Better From Here] ", Vivid Publishing, ISBN 0-9804934-0-4
* Thompson, G. (2002) [http://www.missionreporter.org/road_of_death.htm Kolyma - The Road of Death"] , The Mission Reporter, Florida : Dundee, www site [accessed 21 May 2007]