We all know it.
Walked it every day, but none of them were like these.
The world's most dangerous ways to school.
Climbing, freezing, paddling for hours,
all for the chance of a better life.
Risky, spectacular and sometimes simply beautiful.
The world's most dangerous ways to school.
Siberia, endless vastness, arctic temperatures,
even further east than Japan and 5000 kilometers
North of Valdivistok lies Yakutia, Russia's coldest republic
in the midst of it Oymyakon, with 500 residents
it is the coldest inhabited place on earth.
The average temperature in winter minus 40 degrees Celsius.
Here everything ordinary becomes something special.
Also and especially the way to school.
A daily adventure trip in hostile temperatures.
The children of the Siberian Oymyakon have the world's
coldest way to school.
Six am, an ice cold morning in Oymyakon.
Irina Taric is preparing for when children get up.
She melts the ice from the river so her son Aljosha
can wash the sleep out of his eyes.
There is no running water at the coldest place on earth.
Temperatures can reach as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius,
water pipes would quite simply freeze,
so the residents fetch their fresh water
from the river in blocks of ice and then melt it for use.
Afterwards Irina checks the temperature as she does every
day, around minus 50 degrees again,
that means her son Aljosha must go to school.
Aljosha is eight years old, the children of his age
group are only excused from attending school,
when the temperatures dip below minus 54 degrees.
Even before his departure for school,
Aljosha feels the grim cold, with no running water,
the house also has no toilet,
so Aljosha already has to go outside to the outhouse
in the garden.
Sometimes I wouldn't mind staying inside the house.
Because I'm only able to take staying outside for an hour
at most or maybe two.
His mother Irina has heated up the living room
to about 20 degrees, so when Aljosha opens the door
to the outer room and afterwards the actual front door,
it is essentially 70 degrees colder,
every day life in Oymyakon.
In Oymyakon no one spends more time than necessary
out in the cold, everything, that happens outside
is done very efficiently, otherwise it not only becomes
unpleasant, but also dangerous.
The little Yakut rushes back into the house
as fast as he can.
Seven kilometers away, on a remote farm,
Aljosha's classmate Sajana is up too.
The family lives form their cows,
before going to school, Sajana must help in the stable.
It's relatively warm there,
with temperatures around freezing.
In Oymyakon too they say work is the best clothing.
Sajana, will you please bring the bucket and the stool?
Mom, when I'm older I will help you milk even more cows.
During the severe winters,
the family needs every helping hand in the stable,
the elder siblings pitch in and help with the feeding
and tending of the animals.
The family could well imagine Sajana taking over
the farm one day, but in truth,
they've known for a long time, that school is the key
to their youngest daughter's dreams.
I like animals, not only cows, but also dogs and cats.
That's why you'd prefer to become a vet, right?
Oh, yes.
Anyone, who wants to become a vet
must go to school.
And whoever wants to go to school and lives outside
the village is dependent on Gregori.
Gregori is the driver of the school bus,
the only one in Oymyakon.
The school supplied the 58 year old with a heated garage.
This luxury guarantees, that the engine fluids
of the bus are protected from freezing
and that his vehicle starts in these icy temperatures.
Today it is very cold again, I have to check the oil
and the gear box every morning.
It's already below minus 50 degrees.
That's normal, so what, that's how I do it every day.
After all, it's for the sake of the children's lives.
In order for the bus to be able to drive
in these extreme temperatures in the first place,
Gregori has taken special precautions for the bus.
Engine failure with children
on board would be very dangerous.
Therefore the 58 year old uses blankets as insulation
for all the damageable sensitive cables
this is supposed to protect the bus against
the extreme cold during nine long winter months.
Gregori keeps warm by listening to the radio
turned up loudly, indeed, all the time.
Some of the students are bugged by Gregori's loud radio,
but there is no way to avoid it,
the children living on the farms outside the village
are dependent on the bus driver.
Most households have no car of their own.
Back to Aljosha, after half an hour on the stove,
the water from the river is warm enough
for the daily spit bath.
In the Yakutian part of Siberia,
there are almost no jobs, without a school leaving
certificate, the chances of finding a good job are poor.
ALjosha's mother knows this, that's why she sends
her children to school.
Only her youngest son may stay at home today.
The kindergarten remains closed at temperatures
below minus 48 degrees Celsius.
On her parents farm seven kilometers away from Oymyakon,
Sajana's and her family's work in the stable is now done.
Breakfast, there's fish, eggs and warm porridge
made of bread, milk and sugar.
A warm high energy meal.
Sajana has older siblings, who will soon have to catch
the bus to school as well.
Hurry up with your breakfast,
make sure you don't miss that bus.
The family's farm is so remote,
that the school bus cannot pick up Sajana
and her brothers directly.
The three of them still have to walk quite a way
through the icy cold, their mother, Shigina,
wraps her daughter in four different layers of clothes,
on top of which she wears another two jackets.
As well as two pairs of gloves, a cap and a thick hood.
Often Sajana wears so many clothes,
that she is unable to dress or undress by herself.
The student Aljosha should also make no mistake,
when dressing for his way to school.
And relies on the layering method as well.
Like the other children in Oymyakon,
the eight year old has a special outfit solely for school.
Over his sweater, Aljosha is wearing a shirt and a jacket.
He also wears six layers of clothing including the warm
jacket made of wool and fur.
His mother Irina covers every exposed inch of his skin.
In Oymyakon, frostbite is not uncommon.
Aljosha walks quickly, when he is on his way,
only for a short moment, a very special one
does he take his time.
He hears his nasal mucus membrane crackle,
as it freezes in his sinuses within split seconds.
The moisture immediately formed little icicles
on his eyelashes.
High time to get going on his way to school,
which is about one kilometer long.
A worried mother stays behind.
We only survive here, because we're used to it.
But below 55, 56 degrees, I don't let them leave the house.
Around minus 60 it's too dangerous,
we then don't go out at all.
Today it is three degrees warmer,
than Irina's limit of minus 55 degrees,
much to Aljosha's delight,
because he doesn't like the days,
where is not allowed out at all.
In spite of the cold, Aljosha really likes
his way to school.
I like my way to school, because it's on foot,
running is great fun.
Aljosha likes to doddle and sometimes
even makes a few detours despite
his parents strict instructions.
Meanwhile the school bus still struggles along the ram
shackle streets of Yakutia.
Gregori needs to pick up nearly 50 children today.
And take them to school.
Once Gregori fell I'll, more than a third
of the students missed class, if the bus breaks down
yet again, it is dangerous for everybody
and this happens often in the coldest place on earth.
If it's that cold, the oil and the petrol
can freeze, everything working on fluids can freeze.
Then I have to warm it up somehow.
Otherwise the bus won't start.
The streets around Oymyakon are in poor condition.
Every pothole can become a trap out here.
In the case of an engine breakdown,
Gregori has 30 minutes until the temperature
inside the car reaches the outside temperature
of minus 50 degrees.
The only bus driver far and wide is aware
of his special responsibility,
carefully he steers the bus around the largest holes.
Out here, broken axles are not uncommon.
At these temperatures, shock absorbers quickly freeze
and become hard and stiff, but in Yakutia,
a car is a new phenomenon.
The Siberians have always banked on their natural
resources, which are independent of technology,
which is sensitive to the cold.
Rain deer, this deer species is an important part
of life in Yakutia.
On the one hand, rain deer are a fat rich food.
On the other hand, they serve as work animals
pulling the sleigh.
And where there are no cars yet, they are also used
as a riding animal.
The domestication of the rain deer has helped
the Oymyakoni for centuries and the struggle
against the icy cold.
The reason for these extreme sub zero temperatures
lies in the unique geographical position of Yakutia.
Mountain ranges close the little village off
from the warm air streams coming from the west
and the south, on the other hand, the door to the arctic
is wide open, icy streams of air press forward unhindered.
In Oymyakon, winter lasts from October until April.
The old time record low temperature, minus 71 degrees
Celsius, recorded in 2013 by the local meteorologist.
During the summer months in June, July,
on the other hand it might even get as hot
as 30 degrees, the villagers, however,
take rather more pride in low temperature records.
To go to school in these ice cold temperatures
is daily routine for the children in Oymyakon,
it's high time for Sajana to get going.
SAjana's siblings always join her, her parents forbid her
to walk this way alone, their fear of her freezing to death
on her way is too great.
For us this cold has become normal by now,
I too had to go to school under these conditions.
Sajana is still very young, but considering her age,
she knows quite well how to deal with the cold.
And the older ones help the younger ones.
That reassures me a bit.
Like nearly all children, Sajana goes marching
to school, but it's not solely due to the cold.
Under no circumstances may she miss the bus.
It would in fact be better to be there a few minutes early,
because the bus only comes once and does not wait.
Without taking to look at them, the three of them
meet creatures, which only exit here
above the arctic circle, wild horses.
With especially thick skin, they run free
and can cope with temperatures down to minus 70 degrees.
Unlike the rain deer, horses are not work animals
in Oymyakon and it wouldn't occur to anyone to ride them,
horse meat is a delicacy here and exercise would make
the meat tough.
By now the bus has done more than half of its tour.
Several children have been picked up and it's three
more kilometers to Sajana's home.
But then Gregori is in trouble.
Something's wrong.
One of the rear wheels won't turn anymore.
That happens quite often I'm afraid,
these are old tires, they spin, this definitely
wouldn't happen with new ones.
If the bus gets stuck out here,
there is a serious problem, Oymyakon is four kilometers
away, nobody will come to their aid.
Gregori must fix the bus by himself,
otherwise it may quickly become dangerous.
Just last week someone wanted to drive
to the neighboring village Tomtur.
His fuel indicator was inaccurate,
he hadn't checked it, his car ran out of fuel out here.
Had he not got as far as here, he might have been able
to walk back, well, he died.
Sajana isn't aware of any of this.
With hurried steps, she trudges to the meeting point
through the snow.
Sajana doesn't know, that the bus had a breakdown.
She might've just as easily have missed it.
The only thing she can do is hope and wait
for the school bus at minus 52 degrees.
I hope the bus is still coming or I won't be able
to go to school.
A few minutes, the eight year old
can afford to wait in the cold,
then she must quickly return home.
Her destination, the school is seven kilometers away
on the northern edge of the forest,
the pride and joy of the town of 500 residents.
Here, 25 teachers educate 118 students.
The school principle Katarina Yuvkovia
lives across the street.
At a quarter to eight, she is the first
to enter the building.
This is the only school here, for the children
living in this area it is the only chance
to receive an education.
The school with its 25 classrooms
is the largest building in Oymyakon,
therefore it is also the most difficult to keep warm.
We have central district heating here,
which only heats this school and a few more private houses.
a small coal fired power plant
heats six buildings via district heating round the clock
with the help of 20 tons of brown coal per year.
All the houses in Oymyakon are built of wood,
like the school, any other material would burst
with the differences in temperature of over 100 degrees
between winter and summer.
The structure of the houses is similar everywhere,
an unheated outer room serves as a lock and store room.
Then comes the heating room, the fireplace,
followed by a room, which is used as a living
and dining room, and behind that lie the bedrooms.
In order for the house to remain warm,
the Oymyakons fill up every gap however small
with poly urethane foam, but the cold comes in
at some point anyway, always.
Aljosha's father has to heat the house nine months
nonstop in order to keep it warm somehow.
My parents, my grandparents and my great great
grandparents have lived here.
And so we live here too, I like living
in harmony with nature.
In order to live in harmony with the extreme
cold, one has to constantly be on the alert,
even when performing very ordinary tasks.
Irina cannot let the freshly washed laundry
dry in the house, the risk is too great,
that the moisture will cause
the beams of the house to split.
At the coldest place on earth, the laundry always dries
in the garden.
Within seconds, the water is frozen
and the laundry as stiff as a board.
At least the wash is free of germs,
the low temperatures immediately kill any germs.
But Aljosha's father is also aware of many disadvantages
of the cold, especially when people get careless.
Many people here drink and it's happened often,
that they fall asleep in the snow.
They don't notice, that they're freezing to death,
already at temperatures around minus 20,
the extremities start to die off.
A few years ago a friend of his froze to death
in the middle of the village.
One's worries become even greater,
if your eight year old happens to be a cheeky kid,
in spite of the icy temperatures,
he is full of nonsense, just as any other child
his age would be.
He especially likes to scare the cattle on their way
to the water hall.
He takes no notice of the special clothes
the thick skinned cows are wearing.
As a shield against the cold,
their owner has strapped a sort of special bra
around their udders, a braw made of nylon stockings
protects the most sensitive parts of their bodies
from frostbite.
Sajana has been waiting for more than 15 minutes already,
but still no bus in sight, if it doesn't arrive soon,
she will have to return home.
400 meters away, north of the clearing,
Sajana's father performs his daily duties.
The firewood doesn't have to dry after it's been chopped.
Due to the icy cold, it is become so brittle,
one blow is enough to break it.
And Sajana's father needs a lot of wood,
more than 60 cubic meters is burned
by each inhabitant on average every winter,
that adds up to five truck loads.
We live here and work here, without the work
one cannot survive and whoever doesn't work dies.
Of course it's cold, life can be tough here sometimes,
but then you just have to work harder.
Sometimes we work for sheer survival,
what more can I say?
If it's extremely cold, I simply cannot allow my children
to run around outside, then they have to stay inside,
play computer games or watch TV.
The only way they're allowed to walk
is their way to school anyway.
For Sajana's parents, moving away
from Oymyakon is out of the question.
They decided a long time ago to live in the coldest place
on earth, but Sajana should make her own decision
and that is only possible, if she goes to school
and graduates.
Like many other parents in Oymyakon,
they put Gregori in charge of that.
As so often, the bus driver uses all available means
to get his bus going again and to escape from the cold.
Giving it a lot of gas and a little bit of luck
he manages.
But now it's shortly before eight o clock, the break down
cost him almost a quarter of an hour.
It is quite possible, that many children
won't be waiting at the agreed meeting points anymore.
But Sajana has held out, just in time Gregor picks up
the freezing eight year old.
The school bus, on the hand it's the only way
to get to school, on the other, an unpopular necessity.
The school bus is the worst thing, it's always loud,
dirty and too hot in there.
Aljosha has been on his way for half an hour
already, even though he can make it to school
in a good 20 minutes.
But the lure to take the detour across the frozen river
in the morning was too great,
now the nine year old is freezing.
Within a short time, the bitter cold always finds its way
through all six layers of clothes.
The ice beneath Aljosha's feet is up to four meters
thick in some places, in winter, cars and Gregori's school
bus use the river as a short cut.
For the boy, the river bed is always a place
to discover new things, because the Indigieka,
that's what the Oymyakons call the river,
although frozen is still alive.
Four times a year, a truck from Yakuck,
which is 700 kilometers away delivers canned
and vacuum packed food.
Apart from this, the residents of Oymyakon
live self sufficiently.
In every season of the year, the river provides
stable food, such as fish.
In winter time, the river Indigieka is the hunting ground
for ice anglers, using their fishing rods and nets,
they provide the basic food supply of the whole village.
They wait for hours with their nets.
Then they grab the fish out of the nets
with their bare hands.
The water, which is zero degrees doesn't bother them,
what does bother them, though is the air temperature
of minus 50 degrees.
The ice fisherman don't have to kill the fish,
within seconds, the animals are shock frozen.
The ice fisherman probably have the coldest job here
in Oymyakon, that's not for Aljosha.
One day he wants to create something and see the world.
I'd like nothing better than to become and architect,
build houses.
That's why I attend school.
Whenever he doesn't feel like going to school
and taking on the icy way to get there,
Aljosha remembers his dream,
the last few meters and he's made it, he is at school.
Frozen stiff he reached the school building
at a quarter past eight.
Aljosha is a bit early, but there are already many
children there, all those children, who arrive on foot
arrange enough time to thaw after their way to school.
The best way is to play around.
ALjosha's teacher prepares for her class.
Half of the seats are still vacant,
but in the coldest place on earth,
nobody is able to skip class.
If it's that cold outside, the parents
may decide for themselves whether they send
their children to school or not.
But if the children don't turn up
without informing the school
and having an excuse, we must definitely call
and ask what has happened.
The risk of a child freezing to death
on his or her way to school is too high.
By now the bus is full to bursting point.
It's loud, stuffy, but at least it's not cold.
After the more than two hour drive,
Gregori finally drives the crammed bus up to school.
Sajana is happy to have arrived
and Gregori can take a break until school ends at two pm.
It's exactly half past eight, Sajana arrives
in the nick of time with the school bell ringing.
Today all children are more or less punctual
and lessons start.
Five hours lie ahead of the children,
math, biology, history and Russian.
Aljosha and Sajana are Yakuts,
they're language is based on their Turkish
and Mongolian roots.
The Yakutian language has little to do with Russian
and so the children have to learn Russian
almost as a foreign language, at least if they want
to leave this forbidden place at some point in time.
Sajana stands a fair chance, she is a straight A student
and top of her class.
Aljosha is talented, but not very hard working.
My favorite classes are history and math.
But to be honest, I come here to play and paint
and meet my friends.
After the first two lessons,
it's time for the main break.
The students storm into the cafeteria.
In cold Siberia there is traditionally a second breakfast
for the children.
Warm noodles and hot tea,
essential for the increased energy needs.
Afterwards they all stay in the building,
no one wants to go out in the school yard,
for this, the children would first of all
need to put various layers of clothing,
that's too cumbersome, takes too long
and it's simply too damn cold outside.
The play equipment in the yard is used
only during three months of the year,
however, they are designed in such a way,
that they can withstand even the coldest winter on earth.
If no one comes to the garden,
the garden must go to the students.
A few green plants provide for a little wellness oasis.
Apart from that, the students pass the time playing
board games, the school rifle is also very popular
with the boys.
The children learn how to disassemble a real gun
and put it back together again.
The quicker they learn how to do this,
the earlier their fathers will take them hunting.
Since the children can't really let off steam
inside the building, there are gym exercises
at the beginning of the third lesson.
Sajana and Aljosha are in Russian class right now.
This time the students were asked to learn
a whole poem by heart.
Sajana worked hard and knows all the verses perfectly.
School ends at two pm, while the children from nearby
start off on their cold foot walk back home,
the school bus children wait for Gregori
and his ram shackled bus in the school building,
where it's nice and warm.
Often the students can hear him before they see him,
quite simply because of the loud music.
Afterwards, all of them just want to get into the warm bus.
Aljosha enjoys the first part of the way walking
with a friend.
Then he's on his own again, despite the extreme cold,
his desire to move about is not in the least bit exhausted.
Aljosha does what all children of the world do
on their way home, he makes up his own games.
Again, the eight year old doddles on his way,
but mom and dad know their son and also know
when they have to start worrying.
Now he's fully warmed up,
he won't be coming home that quickly now.
But he's well wrapped up, he wants stay outside and play,
but his games never last very long.
Nevertheless, ALjosha's father
always feels a bit of relief,
when he sees his son come in through the garden gate.
Sajana made it through the drive back with Gregori's
school bus, before doing her homework,
she helps her mother in the kitchen,
the two are very close, spend a lot of time together.
No wonder, friends from school rarely come over
to play at the farm, because they must take the bus.
And have to stay the night.
Aljosha and his brothers turn the living room
into a playground, the three of them have a great
time together, their favorite game is playing bus or car.
I prefer summer.
Then I could play outside longer.
Sajana's siblings are too old to be playing
with her, most of the time she spends with her homework
or coloring books.
There's not much else to do for her in the coldest
place on earth.
At school there are many children,
at home it is so boring, at school it's different.
And my siblings are always just sitting
in front of their computers.
At seven pm it's time for eight year old
Aljosha to go to bed, the next day the thermometer
will decide whether he must get up early again,
whether they will once again have to set out
on one of the most dangerous ways to school on earth.
