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First time I did not wanted to write anything about this, but later decided to write to solidify conclusions. I rode to see is there a road to Large Lavrovka and to look what is going on after it in terms of a way to Shunuth mountain. It is periodically cleared up to village itself and snow solidified so, that it is rideable on the bicycle; on the way to Large Lavrovka clearings in the clouds started to emerge and clear bright sky was visible through them. When I reached village : “I’ll ride to field near cordon, will breath fresh air and will turn back home,” – through the field only tracks of heavy timber transport ( which rode here around 1 – 2 weeks or even 1 month ago, snow on it is very solid and it is easier to walk on it, than through the snowdrifts nearby ) and snowmobile ( snow on which is very loose, so I walked on the timber transport tracks ) lead on. By that time sky cleared completely and Sun filled everything with light, which with its low height above horizon and frozen air created picture of light around and everywhere. On the turn to cordon to the north, timber transport rode further to the West and only snowmobile tracks, on the not completely covered with snow road, led to the North, it is easier to walk on it, then through the snowdrifts, but for riding on bicycle snow is too loose and too deep. On the field after cordon people rode some circles, I walked on them to the Western side of a field, from which there is no road further, in the Eastern direction I saw something like a road and walked there through the waist-deep snow; reaching it I saw bridge and big tube : “This buzzing is not without a purpose,” – it means there for sure road should be.

It is so : it is not completely covered with snow and snowmobile tracks are located on it – this gave a hope, that it leads to the Shunuth itself and I’ll see a mountain today. Recesses of roads-rivers have small amount of snow and it is relatively easy to walk on them, around 200 meters from river, crossing the road, there is another one and snowmobile turned to South here; there is need to walk through snow-drifts from here : “I walked so far and almost came to the mountain, I do not want to turn back now and will continue my way on the feet.” In some areas there are footprints of a horse or elk, for deer and roe they are too big and massive – not many walk this way to the Shunuth at winter time.

There are lots of energy in the mountains, stopping on the one place to make a breath and rest for a while, through the heart beating, there is ability to hear that under layer of snow and ice there is still water gurgling. “You are entering area of paid parking near Shunuth,” – I placed bicycle on the parking, across the road, sticking it into the snow, so that it will not fall and will not slide to the sides and it will be easier to find it on the way back, paid with my bank card in the terminal, terminal encouragingly winked pip-bip : “Payment is accepted, have a nice day,” – and walked further with my bag with the food … Around 1 – 1.5 hours have passed : “If after this another turn there’ll be no South-North road, then I’ll turn and walk home,” – voila : South-North road. On it I walked for another 200 – 300 meters to the North, I did not walked to the South, because I already knew, that I have no need to walk there today, somewhere there another Granddad-stone rocks are located, but I’ll search for them when snow will melt completely. Old man rocks were in around 1.5 km of walking, but there are very deep snowdrifts and after 12 km in the snowdrifts in 3 pairs of pants and heavy winter boots, 5/6 of which I carried my bike under armpit, my legs were exhausted so much, that were ready to tell to me : “Hey, man, you a cowboy, you jump, we will lay here and rest for a while and wait for you,” – and part of my mind hinted to me, that I have the same distance ahead to home, let it be downhill, but it is with the bicycle on the shoulder through the snowdrifts. So, way to it would took another 1 – 1.5 of a hour and I would came to it in a complete darkness, common sense hinted to me, that there is no need to climb alone in the darkness on the ice and snow covered rocks in 40 – 50 km away from the city and it is better to meet bicycle before complete darkness, otherwise I can search for it for a long time.

Bicycle stood there, where I left it, I took it under armpit and carried through the snow. At evening time, alone, walking from the Shunuth : I was so exhausted, that had no forces to be afraid and feel jitters and anxiety, but if something like that tried to come close to me, then I said to myself : “Everything, will, be, alright,” – and walked further. Stars shined very brightly, they do not shine so strong in the city, its illumination eats their beauty; Orion on the South-East, Lyra almost vertically up and other constellations : they are so bright, that light almost like projectors. Closer to field near cordon clouds started to cover the sky, partially it is for the best : at least warmth of a day will not fly too fast in the upper layers of atmosphere. In the snowdrifts convulsions started to appear in the right calf muscle, I stretched and worked it through and on the more clear passages freely walked home. I walked footprint in a footprint and did not turned anywhere from the tracks, all other roads are covered with the snow, so this time I did not strayed in the forest and at once reached field near Large Lavrovka.

In the darkness there, where I freely ride on the bicycle at the daytime, often there is need to walk on feet, because road is visible only in the outlines, details are not visible : where here are hummocks or depressions, filled with a loose snow, in result most of a way from Large Lavrovka to the clay area I walked on feet. Brain, unable to fully comprehend what is going on, tried to switch off; it also tried to make a sabotage and mutiny on the ship and switch off legs also, but understanding of that, in this case there will be need to stay at night in the forest and at -8 degrees on Celsius this is not so interesting, as at 0, hold it from doing this. So, I had to stop periodically, locate my arms on the handlebar and half-sleep for 5 – 10 minutes, to not fall into sleep completely and not to start to overcool and give some rest and recover to brain and legs.

From the village in Polevskoy direction car rode, I walked further. After some time light of another one car showed up and it stopped nearby. Without any questions people greet me and offered to bring up me to the city : I do not know whether I wold stopped car by myself and asked to bring me to the city, probably, I would walked to beginning of asphalt road and rode from there on the bicycle : there is ability to ride on such road cover even at night time, I did it many times on the way from Berezovaya mountain and on the Polevskoy highway. But anyway : thank you to the guys for bringing me up to the city, without this way to home would took 2 – 3 – 4 hours more and only by these hours of night I would came to my home; once more I am convinced that there are normal people – this encourages hope and optimism.

Here are the conclusions : in case of vital necessity I am able to ride to Shunuth even at January time : now I know this, but making this for a pleasure in January and December is too much : such months are completely not rideable for such trips. Urals weather is changeable : at the morning there can be forecasts, that for a whole day there’ll be only -4 – -3 degrees on Celsius, but everything can change quickly and to evening and night time temperature can easily go down to -15 – -20 or even lower : in this case I would received lots of feel and impressions and for sure there would have been need to ask somebody in the cordon or in the Large Lavrovka village for are sleep in a home and negotiate with local people for somebody to bring me to city with them at morning. There is ability to ride to Shunuth up to the end of October, maximally up to the end of November, and then only from the middle of February; December and January are months of training and not far rides near city, when frosts are not so strong. Now here will be sportive stimulus to rotate pedals more intensively to ride, to walk would be more precise, to Shunuth at the middle of February; hope that snow will solidify there more and it will be easier to walk on it. I do not regret about anything and received my portion of pleasure and feel. So, now here will be only work and training, next time I’ll go in to such long-distance ride into the forest at the middle of February. The day begins to be longer, at 5:57 here are dusk and still relatively light, instead of complete darkness at 24th December. See you in the next bicycle adventures!

You can see additional photos here Additional photos of ride to Shunuth mountain in January 2016.