The Outdoor Empathy blog shares thoughts on wilderness travelling. It contains reports on mountain hikes, kayak adventures, wave kitesurfing, and other outdoor journeys in several countries. You will find landscape photos, usefull thoughts on camping equipment and food, and gear I have made myself such as a waterproof backpack and an ultralight four - season tent.

You may also be interested in the coverage of a two - month expedition into Siberia in 2010. In 2010 I will undertake another expedition, now to the Russian far east. For more information go to my new website:

www.outdoorempathy.com


woensdag 4 augustus 2010

6th update

He is walking around for approximately 7 to 10 days (depends on the fish biting).

So mr Klaver is now transmitting more and more happy vibes through the siberian ether. He called me friday during a meeting: I managed to scribble down some coordinates and then sneak out to learn that walking around in the wilderness is currently tough and that, feeling ever fitter, he is looking forward to start trekking in the higher mountains. And because higher altitudes mean less (or more organised) trees, he expects to be able to cover larger distances any day now. 12 kilometres is the current max. If you ever had the privilege of walking with yuri you'll know that is not a lot. He said that he found a good 'wild trail' and caught and cooked two nice trouts (or salmons, i dunno). No shortage of food and water mean carefree hiking of course.

ok: some simple facts for the quick readers:
> he mended his kayak
> the waterlevel is higher than he expected
> he bought a pistol to scare away the occasional bear.

In the meantime in Holland: now yuri is gone exploring, I feel like we are all taking over some of Klaver's typical doings. For example: during a very busy festival I found a tiny frog in the grass that I quickly caught and released somewhere safe. I know Yuri would have spotted it earlier, but would have done the same. Later that week I experienced the best day of the year in kitesurfing. Kitespot IJmuiden received 3 metres of barreling waves with epic winds. Using my favorite stormkite (6 m) I turned on top of one of the biggest waves of the day, faced a big drop, thinking that Yuri would have done the same.

2 all: do read the comments: Rina, yuri's mum, has written down a good story! And if you have something to tell: pleae use the comments as well.







5th update (30 aug)

ok, thnx guys for all the recent comments and thumbs up for Klaver sharing a massive amount of priceless information. It seems to me that Yuri, being so far away, has never before in his life communicated so thorough to so many people about his whereabouts ;-o Just kidding of course! (although he can be far away sometimes).

His satellite phone is working properly. Although some of us have a hard time understanding him due to delay on the line or long intervals of silence. Somehow trees block the connection he claims. Wonder how this will be in the mountains.

Back to business: the voyage through the lonely unknown turns out to be full of strange encounters. With bears (they name the region Sibearia for all the obvious reasons..), and drunken Russians. Apparently he has been invited for a nice Vodka session. Classic!

Walking about is still very uncomfortable due to the heat. Canoeing is better. In the comments Donna says that he has a whole/tear in his canoe. I did not get this message from other sources so I do at the moment not know if this is true. I can also imagine that he has mended his vessel by now and is well on his way to the mountains. The water has levelled out to more comforting proportions I hear so no worries there. Also maybe nice to know that he is walking around with an alarm pistol to scare away the odd inquisitive bear. Yuri must be smelling quite attractive by now from a female bear point of view.

Tiny update: judging from his latest coordinates he is now in the mountains. and some more Good News: I have figured out a way to link to his latest position via


very well then this is the final proof of him having mended his rivercraft: these coordinates prove to be further down the river than the coordinates given in the comments below.

Keep commenting guys and girls!

Looks like he is heading towards a fork in the river.

4th update (25 august)
Just had a long conversation with the expedition leader (easy when you're travelling solo ;). He has walked downriver, but this proved very uncomfortable due to high temperatures. The waterlevel of the river turns out to be lower downriver so the canoe is still the best way to travel. He is now heading for the mountains. See google maps for more info on his progress.

His coordinates are: 56.0007 , 111.73295. Fill these in in Google Maps.













3rd update (22 augustus)
Another small update: it is confirmed that Yuri will wait untill the waterlevel has dropped. More news will follow soon we hope!


2nd update (22 augustus)
Just received an update from Yuri. I missed his call but he left a message on my voicemail service. The line was very bad and was cracking up all the time. I could make out three sentences. I have the impression that he had travelled down the river but encountered the first gravel banks so to speak. I think that means rapids. ""the water has risen by two meters since I have been here", Yuri said.

So that basically means that he is stuck. I could not make out the rest of his story because of the bad connection, but I can imagine that his original route down the river is not accessible. I hope that he can walk back and can think of a good alternative for the remainder of his trip.

If anyone has more info, leave a comment!

1st Update (16 augustus)
Yuri has arrived in siberia, russia. His planeflight stopped without any delay in Moscow (considering the forest fires) and is now making his way to the first part of his expedition. He phoned to Rina with his satellite phone to say that he is a ok. Here below are his exact coordinates











Hi there. To let you what I am up to in Siberia, I will post messages on a regular basis, as well as my GPS coordinates. You will be able to pinpoint my exact location with the help of Google maps. Just copy and paste the numbers, zoom in and there you go!

For photographs and full coverage you'll have to wait until October. Can't help it. See ya!

6 opmerkingen:

  1. Hey Simme, wat is nou het probleem? Als het water zo hoog staat dan zou dat kayakkken juist als een speer moeten gaan, niet?
    En gaat 'ie nu wandelend de bergen in, of met de kayak richting de bergen?

    Saludos,
    Martijn

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  2. Hey martijn,

    hij was vooraf altijd al 'bang' voor stroomversnellingen aangezien zijn kano dat niet aankan. Het is natuurlijk wel een zeewaardige kano, maar niet bestendig tegen rotsen. Dat zou einde oefening betekenen.

    Hij zag gisteren dat verderop (meer richting de bergen) het waterpeil lager is. Dus via een doorsteek kan hij verder. De coordinaten van de doorsteek zet ik later online.

    Groet,
    Simme

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  3. Jaja. Heeft deze expedition leader dat besluit wel democratisch afgewogen met de rest van de bureaucratische expeditieleden-op-afstand? Ik krijg de indruk dat hier geen openbare kennisgeving aan ten grondslag heeft gelegen, waardoor er geen gelegenheid is geweest tot welgemeende advisering of het uiten van kritiek en verontwaardiging. Hiermede wordt de participatie van het maatschappelijk middenveld geminimaliseerd tot riducule proporties die de opmaat vormen voor ondergang van het draagvlak en de democratische legitimiteit van deze expeditieleider!

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  4. Yuri heeft gisteren z'n werk nog gebelt, co-ordinaten 55.91226 111.82318. Helaas heeft hij een gat in z'n kayak. Ik begreep dat hij nu de bergen in gaat maar weet niet zeker of dat met of zonder kayak is. Ook begreep ik dat de kayak hopelijk nog wel te maken is.

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  5. Klaarblijkelijk heeft hij zijn kayak kunnen repareren: zijn laatste coordinaten bevinden zich een eind downriver.

    Bedankt voor de info Donna!

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  6. Hallo allemaal, ik ben Rina, Yuri z'n moeder. Van de week lag ik s'nachts aan Yuri te denken en dacht opeens: Och jee" De Siberische tijger" zo heet die toch, och help waar zit die in Siberie?? Gelukkig belde Yuri 29 augustus en kon hij me geruststellen. Hij geniet enorm, had wel een scheurtje in de kayak gerepareerd, drie dagen gewandeld, de kayak verstopt, het eten eruit uiteraard, beren ruiken alles, ook Yuri z'n rijst met blauwe kaas! Hij was uitgenodigd door Russen voor een gezellige picknic met wodka, zo maak je vrienden! Hij had in Rusland een signaalpistool gekocht, daar gaat hij mee naar bed, hij slaapt ook in de hangmat, hoe doet ie dat dan met dat pistool, maar niet aan denken, let it go, het zal wel goed gaan.
    De coordinaten heb ik aan Egbert doorgegeven, die maakt er weer google kaartjes van en geeft het door an Simme.

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