Among the huge number of tourist destinations, tours to the North Pole have recently become popular. Acquaintance with this region can take place during a short tour for two days, a long ski expedition or a full cruise on an icebreaker.
The latest travel option will be discussed in the article.
Mysterious and harsh North Pole
Before proceeding directly to the description of the cruise, let’s try to figure out why are tourists so eager to get here?
Despite the uncomfortable cold weather, the almost complete absence of attractions, such travels continue to attract. And there are well-founded and logical explanations for this phenomenon.
The North Pole is beautiful for its pacification, deserts, and hence the mystery. At the same time you experience fear of the greatness of nature and admiration for it. Icebergs, huge frozen glaciers, white silence for many kilometers around and bright light that just hurts your eyes.
This primarily attracts incorrigible romantics who dream of repeating the routes of famous sailors and explorers of the North. Extreme lovers check their character there, experience opportunities, for example, by diving into the icy ocean. Whales, walruses, polar bears posing for cameras, and other local inhabitants, also attract attention. Someone just wants to change their attitude towards life, and the endless northern latitudes contribute to long thoughts and analysis.
There is another reason - the prestige of such trips because of the high price for them. Such a trip will immediately show the financial viability of a person. It will mark a certain leadership over others (all of us are subject to vanity to some extent).
our pride
Apart from Russia, no other country in the world has its own icebreaker fleet! At the moment, there are as many as six active units. These are nuclear powered ships: “Russia”, “Yamal”, “Soviet Union”, “Taimyr”, “50 years of Victory”, “Vaigach”. Three more are under construction, the first of which is planned to be completed by 2017.
A lot of interesting articles have been written about these ships and books have been published. Just do not refer the book "Icebreaker" to this list. Suvorov Victor wrote about something completely different.
Some of the nuclear powered ships were idle during the summer. It was decided to use them for those wishing to visit the North Pole. For example, a tourist transport practiced the Yamal icebreaker. We will tell you more about him.
Nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal
It was built in 1992 in a city on the Neva - St. Petersburg. Meets all the required requirements and world-class standards.
The Yamal icebreaker is by far the most powerful and complex among the ships of the world!
The length of the vessel reaches one hundred and fifty meters, and the width is thirty. Technical specifications are impressive: power 75,000 horsepower, displacement - 23,000 tons.
The Yamal icebreaker is capable of breaking fairly thick ice both when moving forward and backward. The sight is very beautiful and bewitching. Tourists like it.
The crew of the team totals 150 people. Passengers can be accommodated on board up to one hundred units.
This icebreaker successfully presents a combination of modern technology with comfortable conditions for leisure travelers and team work.
The visiting card of the Yamal was the smiling mouth of a shark painted on the bow of the vessel. It was made (as they thought then) during a humanitarian cruise for children from around the world, so that little passengers would have more fun. Then they decided to leave. Now this is a kind of logo of the Yamal icebreaker.
Floating hotel
The nuclear icebreaker Yamal is a huge house with a gym, a restaurant, a karaoke bar, a sauna, a heated pool, a volleyball court and other leisure attributes. There is also a library in which, perhaps, there is a book “Icebreaker”. Suvorov wrote it not about a beautiful and powerful ship. Although he could glorify one of the icebreakers on the pages of his book.
Comfortable decks at different levels and the captain’s bridge, which is always open for passengers, allow you to enjoy beautiful views of the kingdom of ice.
During the cruise, there is an opportunity for everyone to take to the air on a Mi-8T helicopter and take stunning pictures from above.
A festive polar barbecue and barbecue on an ice floe await tourists when they reach the highest point of the earth (90 degrees north latitude). There is no visible mark of this place, but only the coordinates on the GPS screen. When the navigator shows these numbers, it means that the goal is achieved - you are at the North Pole! At this point, all meridians and time zones converge.
In order to make any landing on the surface comfortable, each traveler is given special clothes: a jacket, shoes.
After the Top of the world, the Yamal icebreaker continues its cruise and holds the path to Franz Josef Land. The journey ends in the city of Murmansk.
Travel on the icebreaker "Yamal": price
Now let's talk about the cost.
If you take in dollars - it will be about twenty thousand, and in rubles - more than one and a half million in two weeks. Perhaps now prices have become even higher due to currency fluctuations.
During the summer there are no more than five rounds. It is clear that not everyone can afford to buy a ticket for the Yamal icebreaker (cruise). The price, of course, is not accessible to everyone, and the number of tourists is limited. If, for example, five trips during the summer, it turns out no more than 500 people a year. Sometimes, to get on a cruise, places are booked for a year already.
Conclusion
If funds permit, you should definitely go on a cruise to the North Pole at least once on an icebreaker. The impressions you get will last a lifetime.