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news
Andres Abian Pajares (via Vesma.Today on Instagram).PNGSpanish bikepacking blogger "could have died" after being rescued in Siberia camping in summer tent in temperature of -50C (+ video)
A bikepacking blogger from Spain who was cycling across Siberia was rescued by locals who found him camping on a mountain pass in temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius.
Andres Abian Pajares, from Zaragoza, had pitched his tent – suitable for summer camping but not the depths of a Siberian winter – in Russia’s Kolyma region, reports The Moscow Times.
The 47-year-old was suffering from frostbitten hands when he was found by three people, with officials in the town of Susuman telling the RIA News Agency that he “could have died” had he not been discovered.
The Spaniard, who blogs about his bikepacking adventures on his website ciclochao.es, had set out from Magadan, around 400 kilometres to the south, earlier this month.
The cyclist, who has previously blogged about his travels in Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Pakistan and Syria, had been planning to ride more than 4,500 kilometres to Lake Baikal.
In a video posted to Instagram, his rescuers saw his tent by the roadside in the snow with his bike next to it, and when one laughed, he poked his head out.
After being treated in hospital he now has to stay in the area until January since there are no flights out of the area until then.
An official from Magadan said: “We have no plane tickets to Moscow. We won't be able to buy them until January, probably.”
With no small degree of understatement, he added: “It looks like the guy didn't have a good understanding of what the frosts in Kolyma are like.”
The region, in Russia’s Far East, is notorious for the forced labour camps where tens of thousands died that were documented in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's book, The Gulag Archipelago, published in 1973 and translated into English the following year.
In the work, completed in 1968 and smuggled out of Russia on microfilm, the Nobel Prize for Literature laureate described Kolyma as the "pole of cold and cruelty" in Stalin’s labour camp system.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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13 comments
Could easily have gotten him killed (3-season tent with a flysheet that didn't reach
groundsnow level to keep the wind out and -50 centigrade) but respect for the man and the stamina that got him so far.Why has this (excellent, if slightly underequipped) cycle tourist been labelled a "bike packer"? I don't see any fabric rolls precariously strapped to the handlebar, no canvas sausage drooping over the rear wheel, no triangular bag rubbing his knees, nor tent clamped on a fork, etc. Surely those Ortlieb panniers are beyond the Pale!
Real Bikepackers (TM), require an explanation.
If you've ever wondered why the First Rule of War is "Don't invade Russia", this will probably help you understand.
It is certainly possible to cycle across Siberia in winter if you are appropriately prepared: I once came across some Russians who had done this (though they took the southern route towards Vladivostok and it wouldn't get much below -35). In some ways it's advantageous because the roads are better - in summer Siberia is a mosquito-infected bog. But from the video he looks somewhat under-equipped. I think his rescue was probably the best result - he hadn't even reached the coldest part of the route.
Completely irresponsible in my opinion.
fair play to him for trying, im sure he'll be back stronger and wiser
I feel he has a fair way to go in the wisdom stakes...
Probably best done in Summer....
Props to this amazing guy. He planned to ride 2900 miles from Magadan to Irkutsk!
He's been to Kirgizstan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Iran etc.Check out his website: http://ciclochao.es/blog/
He says:
I made a stupid mistake that cost me the end of my adventure (for the moment); On Thursday after pedaling through the P-504, the road from Magadan to Yakutsk (known as Carretera de los Buesos), I went to mount the tent to spend the night, with mittens I hadn't the sensitivity to move the tent poles and I took them off for a moment, keeping only the undergloves ... in a few minutes I suffered frostbite on the thumb, fore and middle fingers of the right had.
Some Russian boys picked me up and transferred me to a health center for first aid, and I had to return to Magadan since I can not continue in these conditions, and I have to receive medical attention; In short, I return home ... but with my mind set on returning and finishing (with the lesson learned) the dream adventure.
Whata mistakea to makea!
That's pretty poor casual racism as even the Spanish don't speak like that when speaking English.
¡Gilipollas!
Camping in -50C over long period is seriously 'out there'... A high risk of requiring rescue I'd say.