You may not be familiar with the name now but it should be loitering near the top of everyones list of must-see travel locations. If you mentioned Kamchatka to any Russian it would conjure up images of a myriad of snow-clad volcanoes and crisp, unpolluted rivers teaming with salmon in the summer and buried beneath thick layers of ice and snow in the winter.
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Elena Safonova
You may not be familiar with the name now but it should be loitering near the top of everyones list of must-see travel locations. If you mentioned Kamchatka to any Russian it would conjure up images of bubbling hot springs, a myriad of snow-clad volcanoes and crisp, unpolluted rivers teaming with salmon in the summer and buried beneath thick layers of ice and snow in the winter.
Elena Safonova
One of the largest stretches of wilderness in the world, the Kamchatka peninsula borders the international time zone and its capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (9,992 km from Moscow) is located so far to the east that its actually closer to Tokyo and Seattle than it is to Moscow.
Elena Safonova
So wild are most parts of the 1000-kilometre long peninsula that locals fondly say that Kamchatka has no roads, just directions. The region's isolation and lack of infrastructure can be both a blessing and a curse.
Elena Safonova
The beauty and tranquility found in Kamchatka's nature is due in part to the area being largely free of commercial tourism. The down side is the inaccessibility of the region.
Elena Safonova
For an independent (and budget) traveller to get around without the services of a tour agency would be an almost impossible task even for the most seasoned of adventurers.
Elena Safonova
The winter here lasts 9 months of the year. There are only wild, empty beaches and the ocean. But this is the only place in Russia where there are real ocean waves. Few in the world know it.
Elena Safonova
An expedition here by the magazine, Surfer, including the surfing gurus Keith Malloy and Dane Gudauskas, paved the way for surfers from the West.
Elena Safonova
The conditions here are pretty rough: the climate is severe, the water is cold, and plane tickets to get here can cost more than a flight to Bali, but no price tag or little bit of wind could stop real heroes from hanging out on the edge of the world, the remote Kamchatka Peninsula.
Elena Safonova
Since 2004, surfing on Kamchatka has become more and more popular. The movement got its start from snowboarders who didn't want to part with their boards in the summertime. It's now possible to see up to 20 people on Kamchatka's line-up.
Elena Safonova
The water here is too cold for swimming. It is, after all, a region equated to Russia's extreme northern regions. It's only possible to surf when wearing water suits. The water temperature heats up to 17 degrees Celsius in the summer, while in February, the air temperature is -20 Celsius and the water around 0.
Elena Safonova
The main spots claimed by Kamchatka surfers are on Khalaktyrsky Beach. It's only 15 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, about 20-30 minutes by car.
Elena Safonova
It's possible to encounter seals, whales, and even killer whales along the coast. They try to stray clear of the coast; nevertheless, it's not so rare to see a fin above a wave.
Elena Safonova
"Arctic surf" is the name athletes from Scandinavia thought up for winter surfing. They were some of the first to start riding waves in the winter, wearing the warmest water suits possible.
Elena Safonova
Kamchatka's long coastline is a great option for surfing.
Elena Safonova
If you ask a surfer why he came here when it's 20 degrees under or why he decided to conquer the waves in precisely this place, he will surely answer, "Because of the nature and the atmosphere. How many thousands of people surf on Bali now? But on the whole Kamchatka beach, there's no one here but us!"
