Life in the COLDEST PLACE on Earth (Record-Breaking Cold!) | Yakutsk, Yakutia

Have you ever imagined what the toughest, most extreme climate on planet earth looks like? Well, there's a certain region of northeastern Russia where conditions for human habitation truly couldn't be any more difficult. The region of Yakutia is widely known as one of the coldest, most brutal regions on planet earth, where midwinter temperatures regularly fall below minus 60 degrees celsius, visibility is often less than five meters, and the sun is completely You would think, with conditions like this, there's no way a society could function and so-called normal life could operate. But there are actually a group of people that have called this region home for generations and have not only survived, but thrived. But how is day-to-day life in the so-called pole of cold different to ours? What do these hardy people need to do just to get through the day during the cold, dark, eerie winter months? Well, let's head to Yakutsk and find out. Oh, and by the way, by pure luck we managed to be there on the coldest day, not just of the year, but of the last two decades. So Yakutsk is widely known as the coldest city on earth and with a population of 300,000 it's also the largest city to be built on continuous permafrost. The lowest ever recorded temperature here in Yakutsk was minus 71 degrees celsius and we're here in the middle of January and the current temperature is just below minus 50. What's just absolutely mind-blowing about this city is that despite temperatures being below minus 50, despite it being incredibly, incredibly cold, life just seems to go on. By the way, about those people, let's meet a few of them. This is Arsenty and this is Nikolay, both members of the Walrus Club, a group of guys that ice bath every day, even in temperatures like this, but we'll see more of that later. And this is Maria, Yakutia's first sommelier. Yep, you heard that right, wine from Yakutia. And this is her husband, Maxim, with whom we headed out on an adventure to a remote Yakutian village. These are just a few of the many locals we met here in Yakutsk, but before we hear more about these lovely people and their lives, let's head back out onto the streets. We've been out for about 20 minutes and to be honest, I'm pretty warm myself because we've got very many layers, but I'm starting to feel how my face is starting to burn because of the cold around these areas. On that note, we've heard that in temperatures like this, it's very dangerous to kiss each other and if your skin comes into contact with metal, that's it, you're stuck to it. Living here in Yakutsk pushes the limits of human nature and even some of the most basic daily tasks require precautions and forethought, for example, turning off your car. Turning your car off in these temperatures can cause the engine oil to freeze, resulting in your car being stuck until spring. To avoid this, people either leave their cars running or rent expensive heated garages. However, people are resourceful up here. And by the way, for people that can't afford their own heated garages, they have these covers for their cars. Apparently, they're called Natasha. She's quite a cool name. My mom's called Natasha. Driving in the city in the famous Yakutsk fog is an experience in itself. With visibility often under five meters, you can't take your eyes off the road for a second. And to stop the windows freezing up whilst you drive, the cars here need to be retrofitted. But we'll let Maria explain that. Can't feel your toes? Let's get inside quick. This is absolutely brutal. My nose hairs are frozen. My beard's frozen. I feel like my bones inside my body are frozen. In these kind of temperatures, your electronic devices are really struggling. Our phone is starting to go and the camera is playing up and it's pretty much dead already. Filming in these temperatures is extremely difficult. And at one point, I had my glove off for filming for slightly too long and lost all of the feeling in one of my fingers. So whilst we head to a coffee shop to warm up, let's show you where we're heading with Maria. So we've come to the museum of the permafrost and we're going to go and have a look underground at the permafrost itself here in Yakutsk. What the most incredible thing is about this place when you're walking through it is you realize that on this permafrost that we're looking at now, an entire city is built. The entirety of Yakutsk is on the permafrost and is built on exactly what we're looking at here. It's just incredible. And because of this, the city can actually be prone to ice shifts. And one big problem that they had to overcome was the heat that emanates from the buildings not melting the ice. So to counteract that, all of the buildings here in Yakutsk are actually built on these stilts which creates a gap between the warm homes above and the permafrost below. And obviously those stilts can only hold that much weight. That's why you won't find a building above 16 floors in Yakutsk. And that also means that all the pipework across the city is actually above ground. I think it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen in the world. And it's not because of the architecture. The nature made it so gorgeous. These trees, honestly, I just can't get enough of. They're so gorgeous. I can just stare at them forever. Probably outside the window, not standing outside watching them forever. But notice that everywhere in Yakutsk where it's leading up to the entrances, they've got carpets laid over because it's so slippery. I haven't seen it anywhere else in the world. I've wanted to do this for so long. There are two official languages in the Republic of Sakha. Russian and Yakut. Yakut language is a Turkic language. And you know that we're both very passionate about languages. And we always try and learn at least a few phrases in every country we go to. Which gives me the chance to introduce you to the sponsors of today's video, Busuu. Previously, every time we traveled to a Russian-speaking country after a long gap of time, I could feel how my speaking level especially had dropped. And it would always take me weeks to get back up to speed. Which is why recently I've been using Busuu to continue learning and refreshing my knowledge on the road. So when the time comes to travel to places like Yakutsk, my language skills are right where I need them to be. For me, the best thing about learning with Busuu is their bite-sized lessons, their personalized lesson plans. And when you have Premium, the ability to download the lessons so that you can even use them on the go without an internet connection. With over 120 million users all over the world, Busuu offers courses in 14 languages. So to achieve your language learning goals, start learning your favorite language completely free today with Busuu using the links in the description below. And back to the video. In some crazy stroke of luck, this day, the day we chose to film, turned out to be the coldest day in the last two decades. You would think though, in these temperatures, nobody would go outside. But this couldn't be further from the truth. People here are inspirational, to be honest. No matter what Mother Nature throws at them, the resilience of the Yakutsk shines through. Women stand outside at the market all day selling their wares, delivery guys still work, kids go to school, and some even go ice bathing on the frozen river Lena. This is Arsentiy and Nikolay, two members of the Bovoros swimmers group. Despite the temperatures, this group of incredible people turn up here almost every day to dive into this icy water. Wow. And he goes on the water. Inspiring, isn't it? Incredibly inspiring. One guy said that he started doing it this in August because he got fed up of getting ill constantly. So to boost his immune system up, he decided to start doing this. At this point, you may be thinking that Yakutsk is just one big ice city all year round. But actually, that's not always the case. And despite the very cold snap that we're experiencing at the moment, on average, winters here are getting warmer. Climate change is having an effect on Russia's far north, faster than most places on earth. And that poses a massive threat to the very permafrost the city is built on. Last summer, the above average mercury culminated in tragic circumstances. The warming climate is a problem for all of humanity, and one that's having a particular effect on Yakutia right now. Even if today, walking around the city at minus 60, it seems a long way off. As passes through, it's easy to be shocked at temperatures like this. I mean, in Britain, the country completely shuts down after an inch of snow. But for people here, this is just everyday life, and the locals love their city and its climate. And for us, the main takeaway from this trip, funny enough, won't be the freezing cold, but the intense warmth of the Yakut people. By the way, this is the first of a mini-series up here in the world's coldest region. This video, in many ways, left us with more questions than answers about the Yakut people, their way of life, what they eat up here, and what life's like in the villages. And in the next videos, we're going to endeavor to answer all of these questions, and share more of this magical region. But for now, thanks so much for watching, and see you in the next one!