Ice on Baikal is a beautiful name. Incredible turquoise ice of Lake Baikal in landscape photographs by Alexei Trofimov. Tour conditions

We had a great time :) It was interesting and sooo fun. The company got it right! So many good memories! Guide Chernysheva Katya. We are extremely lucky to have her. She loves her land, knows everything about it, and gladly passes this love on to us. It is easy and comfortable to discover new places and have fun with it. Wonderful guide! Wonderful person

The waters of Lake Baikal are annually bound by a continuous ice cover. In this regard, Baikal is an exception among the world's large lakes. Even Lake Ladoga, which lies much to the north, is completely covered with ice only in severe winters.

The snow-covered plains of the surface of the frozen Baikal stretch for many tens of kilometers. Along the northwestern coast, they alternate with vast expanses of sparkling smooth transparent ice (Fig. 30), from which strong winds blow the snow clean.

The ice expanses of Lake Baikal have long been convenient means of communication, and not only of local importance. For 100-130 days a year, automobile and horse crossings are maintained along the surface of the Baikal that has become. However, the Baikal ice roads, along with amenities, bring many difficulties and even dangers. Hence the great interest in the Baikal ice, which has long been shown by people who in practice solved the problem of winter transport on the lake and carefully collected the information necessary for this. The greater attention to the Baikal ice, which appeared already in the distant times of the caravan routes, is evidenced by old writings and various archival materials.

Already in the XVII century. caravans moved through winter Baikal, carrying “soft junk” (furs) to China, from there - Chinese silks, tea and other goods. The mining of gold, silver and lead at the Nerchinsk mines has significantly revived the ice routes across Baikal. In 1733, a permanent postal service was established between Moscow and Nerchinsk with a crossing across the lake.

In the middle of the XIX century. regular winter communication between Central Russia and the Far East was established. Then it was also carried out through Baikal. In those years, several thousand carts passed through the icy Baikal, transporting tens of thousands of pounds of various goods. In 1904, a section of the railway was laid on the ice of Lake Baikal. With the help of horse traction, 65 steam locomotives and more than two thousand wagons were transported along it. With the entry into operation of the Circum-Baikal Railway, crossings on ice were sharply reduced.

The very first information about the ice of Lake Baikal that has come down to us is given in the book of Nikolai Spafari, the Russian ambassador to China. Spafarius was instructed by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to describe in detail the route to China. In 1675, on the way to Beijing, he passed Baikal, leaving to his descendants a curious description of the ice of the lake and the dangers associated with winter movement along Baikal: ice lives a fathom or more in thickness, and for this purpose they walk on it with winter sleds and sleds, but it’s really scary, so that the sea rests and splits in two and gaps three or more fathoms wide are made, and water does not spill into them on the ice, and soon it will come together again with great noise and thunder, and in that place it will be like an ice rampart; and in winter, everywhere along Baikal, noise and great thunder live under the ice, as if from cannons it beats (which does not lead to great fear), especially between the island of Olkhon and between the Holy Nose, where the abyss is large.

During the XVIII and the first half of the XIX century. many travelers and explorers of Siberia give separate remarks, and sometimes long descriptions of the Baikal ice. However, the systematic study of the Baikal ice regime was initiated only in 1869-1876 by Dybovsky and Godlevsky.

Today, the study of Baikal ice has not lost its significance, on the contrary, the scope of work in this area has significantly expanded. Studies of the Baikal ice regime have taken on a more in-depth character. Scientists comprehensively study the formation of the ice cover, its destruction and melting, its structure, strength, ability to conduct heat and transmit sunlight, and much, much more. Great success in this matter was achieved by the researchers of the Baikal Limnological Station of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the leadership of G. Yu. Vereshchagin. In recent years, major work in the field of studying Baikal ice has been carried out by the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. At the same time, our knowledge of the movements and modifications of the Baikal ice cover has been significantly expanded by observations from an aircraft and aerial photography.

Baikal ice takes very different forms. Some of them are formed during the freezing of the lake, others - throughout the winter. Various types of ice have been well known for a long time and are designated by peculiar local names.

In October, when frosts come, along the shores of Lake Baikal, on the rocks, “splashes” appear, often of a bizarre shape, formed by the surf. At the same time, in the north of Baikal along the berets, ice strips are already appearing - zaberezh. In Southern Baikal, shores appear only in November. Here, their formation is prevented by deep warm water rising to the surface to replace the cold layers driven away by northwest winds. Under the southeastern coast, where the surf is especially strong in autumn, the edges of the coasts thicken greatly, often reaching 5-6 m. They take the form of shafts, according to the local "eve juice". Sokui are formed mainly from loose grainy intra-water (bottom) ice thrown to the surface by waves. Bottom ice crystallizes on Baikal in an insignificant amount: the supercooling of water necessary for its formation does not always occur. This ice sometimes participates in the formation of opaque ice.

Strong winds and waves break wide shores. Formed large and small pieces of ice - according to the local "autumn" - are carried by wind and currents over long distances. The amount of detrital ice gradually increases. As frost intensifies, the debris freezes, forming ice fields. In the open spaces of the lake, on frosty windless and cloudless nights, young transparent ice quickly forms.

However, the autumn ice drift on Baikal does not end there. Ice fields and young ice in November, December and early January are repeatedly broken up and formed again. The wave and wind create heaps of ice floes in separate parts of the lake - hummocks. In places, slipping of ice floes occurs, which leads to the formation of multilayer ice. Thus, when complete freezing occurs, the ice cover of Lake Baikal is already heterogeneous: smooth ice 5-20 cm alternates with ice thickened with pods up to 40-65 cm, as well as with hummocky ice.

Baikal is never covered with a continuous ice cover at the same time along its entire length. Freeze-up occurs in different regions of the lake at very different times, which, moreover, do not remain constant in individual years. Already in October, shallow-water sors and small bays freeze completely. On different coasts, freezing occurs from mid-December to early January. In the first half of January, the open parts of the lake freeze, and the deepest part of the lake, opposite Olkhon Island, freezes later (Fig. 31). In some years, ice-free spaces remain throughout January, and in 1899 the final freeze-up in the Goloustnoye region did not occur until February 10th. During the winter, a very small space in front of the source of the Angara remains ice-free. The formation of ice here is prevented by the rise to the surface of warmer deep waters.

During the winter, the thickness of the ice cover of the lake continuously increases. Especially large thickness - up to 150-250 cm- reaches ice in small, early frozen bays. Along the northwestern coast, in the Small Sea and other places, crystal-clear ice free of snow forms very quickly. However, in late February - early March, its freezing stops. In open Baikal, the rate of freezing and ice thickness largely depend on the distribution of snow on the ice cover.

Snow cover greatly slows down the growth of ice, which continues until early April. The fact is that snow makes it difficult to transfer heat through the ice cover. In the absence of snow, in the first half of winter, the surface layers of water cool rapidly, giving off their heat reserves through the ice, which is rapidly growing. In the second half of winter, the influx of solar heat, penetrating through the transparent ice, increases, the water heats up and freezing stops. Snow cover, on the one hand, delays the heat transfer of under-ice water, on the other hand, reflecting up to 50-70% of solar energy, prevents water heating, which is especially noticeable in the second half of winter.

The thickness of single-layer smooth ice by the end of winter ranges from 70 to 113 cm, but in some cases it reaches 130 cm and more. Multi-layered ice formed as a result of pods can be much thicker.

Throughout the winter, the continuous ice cover does not remain motionless and unchanged. It undergoes, although small, but very noticeable horizontal and vertical displacements. As a result, deformations and breaks of ice are formed, narrow “dry” cracks appear, through wide gaps with high heaps of ice floes along the edges.

The main reason for the horizontal displacements of the ice cover is the compression and expansion of ice when its temperature changes. The scale of these movements can be judged by the following figures. It turns out that a decrease in the temperature of the Baikal ice cover by 3° would lead to its compression and decrease along the length of the lake by 120 m. But the configuration and indentation of its shores, with which the ice cover is soldered, lead to the appearance of a whole network of through cracks, dividing the continuous ice cover into separate ice fields, reaching 30 km across. The width of the slots themselves ranges from several tens of centimeters to several meters. The location of these cracks does not change from year to year.

Such through cracks on Baikal have long been called “stave cracks”.

During warming, the ice expands, pressures and heaps of ice blocks appear along the cracks. “Stanovoi hummocks” are formed, stretching for many kilometers. The formation of cracks and hummocks is accompanied by a strong noise, reminiscent of cannon fire or thunder.

Stanovoye hummocks and tens of square kilometers of hummocky ice create difficult conditions for the operation of winter transport on Baikal. Particularly dangerous are cracks covered with thin young ice.

Great Siberian frosts give the ice cover of Baikal solidity, considerable thickness and strength.

Vertical movements of the ice cover are the result of changes in the position of the lake level, which are caused by the action of the wind, sharp fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, or other reasons. The direct effect of the wind on the movement of ice becomes noticeable only in the spring, just before the opening of the lake.

During the winter, polynyas form in the Baikal ice cover. At first they are small - a few meters in size, but gradually their size increases. These polynyas, or, as they are called, "steams", "keys" are the result of thawing ice from below. This happens where the gases released from the bottom of the lake carry warm deep waters to the lower surface of the ice.

Proparins can also occur in the places where hot springs come out, which are common along the shores of Lake Baikal, but their value is insignificant. The areas of occurrence of proparins, formed as a result of the rise to the surface of deep warm waters, remain unchanged from year to year. This confirms the existence of permanent under-ice currents in Baikal. The largest proparins are found near Cape Kadilny, along the northern shore of Southern Baikal and in some other parts of the lake.

The internal destruction of the Baikal ice begins long before the ice drift. The sun's rays through the transparent ice heat the subglacial layer of water. The ice begins to melt from below, crumble and, as they say, break out - divide into columns and needles. The number of proparins increases, they expand, gradually turning into vast polynyas. The cracks widen, large ice fields are released and set in motion by the action of the wind. Ice pressures and thrusts begin, which pose a serious danger to coastal structures: piers, piers, piers, etc. In places, masses of ice are forced onto the shores (Fig. 32, 33).

Such a picture is observed from year to year already in mid-April along the entire northern shore of South Baikal in the area: Larch - Sandy Bay. Throughout the winter there is no snow cover. On the opposite shore, in the Posolsk-Tankhoi region, where the snow stays in winter, ice breakup begins two weeks later, and in Northern Baikal only in the second half of May.

The wind breaks the melted ice that has lost its strength. On the vast expanses of free water formed, it spreads the wave, accelerating the destruction of the ice cover. Ice breaking usually begins in the area of ​​Listvenichnoye village - Peschanaya Bay in the last days of April. In the same area - opposite the capes Bolshoy and Maly Kadilny - especially early ice drift is observed. This feature was noted back in 1788 by the famous explorer of Siberia, Academician Pallas. Breaking of the ice cover in the north of Baikal occurs only at the end of May.

Spring ice drift on Baikal lasts an average of 12-19 days, along the southeastern coast - 25-30 days, and west of the source of the river. Hangars ends in 4-10 days. The release of individual regions of Baikal from ice is stretched for a long time. If in the south the lake is cleared in the first half of May, then at its northern end individual ice floes can still be found at the beginning, and in the area of ​​Sosnovaya Bay in the middle of July (Fig. 34).

Late freezing and late opening, unlike other lakes of moderate sprats, are manifestations of the same feature of Baikal: its enormous temperature inertia. Due to their huge volume and high heat capacity, seasonal changes in the temperature of Baikal waters proceed very slowly. In spring and summer, Baikal waters accumulate huge reserves of heat, and a lot of time is spent on its return, cooling of the upper layers and subsequent freezing, even in case of severe frosts. In the same way, in spring, a lot of solar heat is required in order for the temperature in a significant thickness of the upper layers of water to rise and for the intensified melting of ice from its lower surface to begin.

The opposite is observed in the Baikal sors. With a vast surface and a depth of only 3-5 m the waters of the sors very quickly give up their small reserves of heat and freeze already in October. In the spring, the water in the litters quickly warms up, and they are freed from ice captivity much earlier than the open Baikal.

The legendary Russian lake, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, is a magnet for tourists from all over the world. We asked two experienced travelers what time of the year is best to go to Baikal. Each insisted on his version. Julia talked about an extreme trip on turquoise ice. “But what about the campground and the kayak trip?” – stubbornly Alexander. I had to declare a draw. The time of the year does not matter if the purpose of your trip is the freshwater sea of ​​Siberia.

Photo: satorifoto.livejournal.com / Daniil Korzhonov

“When we get there, I’ll show you the place where KamAZ went to the bottom with firewood last week. If the polynya in that place evenly froze, then through the ice you can see the cabin, it’s not deep there! They say that I didn’t manage to get out of the carrier,” - under such “funny” tales of my Irkutsk friend Dima and the clatter of my teeth in a huge expeditionary jeep, we cheerfully rush from Irkutsk to Baikal. On the calendar is the second half of February. I, having caught the first “narcotic” arrival from contemplating the furious blue of Baikal waters in autumn, now strive to see its legendary turquoise ice.

KAMAZ, firewood and Baikal spirits

The road from Irkutsk to the village of Sakhyurta, from where a ferry goes to Olkhon Island in the warm season, and in winter the official ice crossing begins, takes about three hours. Moreover, most of the time is spent on coaxing local spirits with a complex character. This is done at special points - burkhans, located along the entire length of the route. “It is necessary to drink white alcohol and leave a coin made of white metal. And then shish you, and not good weather and strong ice; cognac and wine are not rolled, ”Dima explains with knowledge of the matter, threateningly moving his eyebrows. Huddling in the cold wind of the Ust-Orda steppes and remembering the peasant, firewood and KamAZ that have gone to the bottom, I dutifully swallow vodka and look for change in my pockets.

For such conscientious check-ins on the Burkhans on the way to Olkhon, the spirits favorably muffle the instinct of self-preservation. And as a result, when you go out on open ice for the first time, beyond the borders of the official ice crossing, you do not scream with fear, but quietly howl with horror and delight, sitting in a multi-ton car, which, like an unguided projectile, rushes along the surface of the Small Sea with practically no adhesion to the surface. Under the wheels is a dark blue abyss streaked with white meteors of small surface cracks, dotted with galaxies of bubbles and nebulae of rare snow bald spots. The process of braking on absolutely smooth ice is a whole special operation that requires special skills to instantly calculate the mass of the car in relation to speed and the approximate distance to the nearest hummocks or a rock sticking out of the ice. God save us!

penguin man

“You can’t drive close to the rocks,” says Dima, blocking all the wheels and effectively skidding the car a hundred meters from the steep bank of Olkhon. “They heat up from the sun and the ice next to them melts. But we're going there on foot." By this moment, consciousness is completely resigned to the fact that for the next few days there will be 50–80 cm of completely transparent ice under you and God knows how many tens or hundreds of meters of water column of the deepest lake on this planet. Therefore, the first steps on the ice are taken with the doom of the follower to execution: in the end, what difference does it make where this abyss swallows you - in the middle of the Small Sea or at the nearest rock. But in the next moments - after an epic fall to the fifth point with three unsuccessful attempts to rise - the theme of the yawning abyss closes completely. From now on, your main concern is to keep your own body upright. The only way in my case that worked more or less safely on the mirror ice was the “penguin man” mode. At the same time, to prevent bruises and fractures during falls, it is necessary to provide clothing that brings you as close as possible to the shape of a ball.

The road of life

You can see the main treasures of the winter Olkhon - ice grottoes in the north - only after leaving the borders of the official crossing. This is a road on the ice of Lake Baikal, which the Irkutsk division of the Ministry of Emergency Situations builds every year. The road of life, as the inhabitants of Olkhon call it. It is this route that is used for trips to the mainland, food for the island villages, firewood for heating (on Olkhon, which is entirely a protected area, felling is prohibited) and medicines are imported along it.

Baikal, even under the ice, is alive, it breathes, tosses and turns, forming terrible butt cracks and giant hummocks. Undercurrents and hurricane-force winds in some bays change the structure of the ice, polynyas appear. Local residents, leaving on the open ice, are well aware of such problem areas and go around them. For beginners, going beyond the milestones set by the Ministry of Emergency Situations is a big risk. Every year, dozens of cars go under the Baikal ice. Very often the victims are drunk drivers and guests from other regions, who, upon arrival in Irkutsk, rent cool cars and drive them across the frozen lake. Therefore, the main life hack for travelers to winter Baikal: forget about renting a car. When driving on ice, you must be driven by a sober local resident who has knowledge of the ice conditions along your route.

Poses on ice

All those who go out on the open ice are left to their own devices. And everyone comes up with entertainment to their liking, featuring varying degrees of madness and extremeness. Athletes make multi-kilometer, multi-day transitions on skates with ski poles, dragging equipment behind them in sledges. You can meet fishermen in the bays: ice fishing for omul turns men into zombies. Some fanatics bring plywood houses with them and put them right above the hole, they also spend the night in them. Desperate bikers spike the tires of their enduro motorcycles and cross Baikal from south to north, jumping over impassable hummocks and cracks with acceleration. Kiters use towing kites to catch crazy winds. I'm even scared to think about ice diving.

Far from extreme sports, the people from the camp sites are first tightly packed with fried omul and poses - giant Buryat dumplings. There is a hole in the top position. “First, you suck out her “soul” - hot meat juice from a hole on the top of her head. And then you bite the empty one from the side, ”experienced eaters advise me. The juice burns the tongue, steam comes out of the hole. Then sweet tea with lemon, dressing with a gradual assuming the shape of a ball and going out-rolling out on a sunny frosty day.

And restless tourists are already renting "Khivuses" - hovercraft - and are carried away on them through polynyas and cracks to the Small Sea. But “Hivus” for a long time is expensive, so after that people arrange off-road rides on perfectly flat ice with maximum acceleration and subsequent drift. At the same time, I recommend turning on one of the Strauss waltzes at full volume in the car. For example, "Tales of the Vienna Woods." Most likely, you will not be rocked for a long time on any vehicle. When just drifting becomes boring, inflatable cheese sleds are tied to cars. Entertainment, by the way, is quite dangerous: “cheesecakes” run the risk of being smeared on the Baikal ice in the event of an awkward turn by an inexperienced driver. Therefore, we did not take risks and tied a long cable to the car ... my friend Katerina on skates. Everything was done carefully: Katerina at first languidly resisted, and then demanded to continue.

Gala Concert

In general, of course, the glide is perfect. The wind blows snow off the ice surface and forms a perfect ice rink. Huge, deserted and free. Crazy with happiness, Katerina rushed across the ice with cries of “This is all mine! My!". Before leaving for the airport, one of my most important tasks was to catch her and take off my skates.

And the supernatural transparency of the Baikal ice is also amazing. God knows, due to what this shade of unearthly turquoise is formed - the chemical composition of water or the refraction of sunlight? By the way, the weather on Olkhon is noticeably different from other places on Baikal: according to the results of many years of observations, the island has only 48 cloudy days a year. And if the day is sunny and calm, then, for example, the local -15 or -20 ° C is quite comfortable for a long stay in the fresh air.

Yes, and this ice makes special sounds. He either shoots with sharp bursts of distant backbone cracks, then quietly hisses like a snake with a network of small surface cracks under his feet, then gurgles loudly under the blows of the palms of local ice drummers. We initiated the final gala concert ourselves and already on the shore of the Greater Baikal. They smashed large chunks of ice in sync and then listened for a long time to how the sharp fragments sing and ring thinly, rolling along the ice field towards the pink sunset descending on Buguldeysky Bay. Meanwhile, the spirits of shamans from Mishkina Mountain were laughing at the disembodied attempts of madmen to decipher the formula of love for this amazing place above the name of Baikal by the sound and color of ice.