Vilnius – Moscow – (Vorkuta)
15 April: Irrevocable Travel Date.
This trip was meant to become a new challenge in the biography of the initiator of record-beating automotive trips, Vitoldas Milius. However, the forces of nature at times prove to be stronger than a man’s will, and make one rearrange all plans…
On 13 April, 2012, the crew of Vitoldas Milius and Audrius Sutkus, having been on expeditions together before, left Vilnius and headed to Moscow in a standard SUV diesel 2.5-liter Toyota Hilux. The starting point of the trip was planned in Moscow on 15 April, 2012; the purpose – the land of permafrost soils and Vorkuta city in the North of the European part of Russia, the Ural Mountains. From there, the Arctic Ocean is within reach.
It was absolutely characteristic of Vitoldas to find a way and make the task even more difficult than it naturally is: this time, he decided to race with a train going on route Moscow-Vorkuta. How does one accomplish a near-to-4 000 km route, typical for a train, going off-road – through the tundra, wetlands and rivers, continually obstructing the path?
The risk of the trip was significantly increased by the start being postponed more times than one for various maintenance reasons. Summer season approaching, the “ice road”, irreplaceable in winter, gets hardly passable. Though the natives say the ice road stays icy till the end of April, the spring happens to come early, like it did this year.
“My plan was beginning the journey as early as the end of March but the circumstances made me remember 15 April again”, said V. Milius on the day of his departure. „Audrius Sutkus, the off-road professional, is coming with me, and his off-road experience will help us a lot as the last third of the route can’t even be called a road. I’ll definitely have to rely on my orienteering intuition and the skills of my partner.”
The crew successfully reached Ukhta city, and the problems started. Here’s what the travellers told in the morning of 17 April:
“Regrettably, we have to turn around and go back. From Ukhta, we moved forward. With difficulty, but still forward. Then it got harder and harder. I’d say we spent half a night moving around in one spot, trying to find a road to take. We almost reached Pechora when we realised we had no more chances to go forward. The main reason is the warming – outside, the temperature is as high as 10 degrees. The ice in rivers is melting and there’s no “ice road” as such any more…
Only three-axle Ural trucks take this route but they have rutted the road so much they can hardly pass it themselves. We’d seem to drive normally, then we’d feel the ice under the wheels, then water flooding them, then suddenly we’d be falling into a metre-deep pit and struggling to get out…
Drivers heading away from Pechora would ask our direction and we’d say, “Vorkuta”. They’d say: “Maybe you’ll reach Pechora, but not a chance further.” Besides, we planned to take the same road back… Perhaps we could risk continuing forward, but the weather conditions change so fast, rivers start flowing; it’s obvious we’d have no possibility whatsoever to return.“
Toyota Hilux had Continental tyres on. The car also had a special SeeMe GPS fleet management and vehicle tracking system, additional spotlights and filming equipment installed.
The challenge seems to be remaining. It pretty obviously will not remain only on paper. In one of the upcoming winters, the crew plans to repeat the trip, only choosing a different time. The brutal Russian winter blizzard won’t make it easy.
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Previous trips of V. Milius: 15-04-2009 – 09-05-2009: EX USSR; 15-04-2010 – 26-04-2010: Lisbon-Vladivostok (15 200 km within an extremely short time); 06-07-2011 – 09-07-2011: ecotrip around the Baltic Sea; 15-11-2011 – 17-11-2011: Nordkapp – Tarifa (record – 52 hrs 20 min).