For a few months a year, the world's largest volume freshwater lake freezes, providing locals and visitors the chance to walk across its surface. Following in the steps of a few previous trekkers, Ash Routen travelled to Russia in 2018 to walk across the frozen surface of Lake Baikal.
On a cold and overcast afternoon in a small lakeside resort in Siberia, my friend Phil and I clumsily drag our plastic sleds down a small set of stairs to the frozen surface below. Our farewell party consists of Eugene, a local trekking guide and our trusty fixer, and two Brits, Robbie, and Natalie, who are new acquaintances.
An hour before, we had been basking in the comforting warmth of a trendy local café. "You two look like a right pair of f****ers," Robbie had quipped with his strong London accent. I was glad we at least looked the part, given we would soon be leaving behind the sanctuary of the cafe tor a long cold march ahead.
Trace a finger roughly north of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, and you soon hit a vast body of water. Tucked between mountains and Siberian hinterland, Lake Baikal stretches for nearly 700km. Its frigid depths plumb to a little over 1,6km. Remarkably, the lake freezes over in February and March, just enough to allow a few hardy (or stupid) souls to walk on
