Monthly archive 07/2011

This is one big beast of a lake. it holds one fifth of all the worlds fresh water and is extremely deep, 1637m at its deepest, ,making loch ness look like a puddle with a worm in it!

I was curious as to what to expect from the water, having heard varying reports of water temperatures ranging from 4 to 18c. I was prety sure I would find some cold water and I ifound more than a little. The 60km or so that I covered on foot , I can safely say the water was between 4 and 6c, measured both by my watch and by my traditional mercury themometer. When you are there you will realize that this huge expanse of water will only cool down in the few very shallow areas such as the Maloe more near Olkon Island, everywhere else it is contantly around 5c, even at the Golostnoyoe river delta where I though it might be shallower and possible warmer it was still 6c just 1 km southwest of the delta. As you would expect from a lake it is very flat with few waves although it can get very windy and apparently big waves are possible during storms. The water is amazingly trabsparent and a pleasure to swim in. However the best thing about the water is maybe the taste, it is excellent. Even in Listvyanka where 1 guide book states not of drinkable quality it tastes great and is fine to drink.
I swam 5 times for 10 or 15 minutes, considering I had come from  16c water and a contintental European summer I was happy with this as preparation for the Bering Streait swim.
Incidentally I only saw 1 other person swim in the lake and that was for about 10 seconds.

Lake Baikal has over 300 tributaries but only 1 river drains the lake – the mighty Angara. It really is a beautiful sigt to see the Angara river taking the water of Baikal lake downstream in the direction of Irkutsk. The Angara is as beautiful a river as Baikal is a lake and the water is just as clear and clean. Just a degree or 2 warmer than the lake it was about 6/7c where I swam halfway between Irkutsk and Listvyakna. and was a really enjoyable swim. At one point the river is slow and lazy and then you feel it pull and its faster. At the point where it starts flowing from Baikal its really quick, a speed of 21metres per minute. I don’t know what that is in cubics  but it is a fair bit and pretty much sums up the power and vastness of this place.

After a hectic few days I simply haven’t had time to produce an in depth piece about the Bering Strait…..so instead I will shoot from the hip and tell you what I know off the top of my head.

The Bering Strait lies just outside the north polar circle and of course separates the USA from Russia. At its narrowest point there is just 86km between the 2 continents. However just 4km is the distance between Big Diomede and Little Diomede Island, the former Russian territory, the latter American.

A relatively shallow area  with an average depth of between 30 and 49m makes for large waves and the proximity to the arctic sees harsh storms arrive with little or no warning. Water temperature on the surface around the end of July through to the end of August should be between 4c and 8c, though the mercury could dip to as low as 2c in places. Interestingly experienced Alaskan fishermen advocate keeping a watch out for sea ice even during the summer.

Getting to the area from either Europe/Asia or America is not easy. There are no roads and only a few airports with little tourist infrastructure, in fact few people inhabit the area around the Bering Strait on both sides. On the Russian side the area of Chutktka is self governing and is still considered as a restricted border zone, therefore it is very difficult to enter this region and a special permit must be granted from the local authorities and it isn’t simply a case of arriving and doing the paperwork, you must arrange it well in advance.

It is possible that back in time the Bering Strait wasn’t covered by water and this ridge of land connected the American and Eurasian continent providing a lbridge that allowed people to cross from Eurasia and populate America.

Winter swimming may not be possible during winter as the Bering Strait is frozen so we will attempt the crossing at the end of July when the water is at its warmest and with mother nature on our side we will make it to the other side.

For more information about the swim see here