Adam Boreiko planned to cycle 914 kilometers from Yakutsk to Oymyakon in Siberia, and things seemed to be going well for the Polish adventurer. He had covered 406 kilometers, almost halfway, through the coldest region outside Antarctica, at the coldest time of year.
Boreiko, who spoke fluent Russian, started his journey on January 25. On January 31 at 8 pm, he reached the village of Khandyga, population about 6,000, after cycling for 9.5 hours. He then checked into a local hotel. He didn’t appear the following day, so at 5:10 pm local time, staff checked his room and found him dead of unknown causes.
Adam Boreiko. Photo: Instagram
Warm hospitality
Boreiko was about 50, according to local media, and spoke fluent Russian. After some effort, he had managed to get official permission to travel that route. Western tourists don’t travel Russia much these days, and he received warm hospitality along the way. He wrote on Instagram:
The first few days have been the most challenging: adaptation, and the equipment breaking down a bit. People along the way help me through all the difficulties…I spent my first night in Tüngülü at a roadside bar and inn. The next day, in the village of Nuoragana, I was given food and tea at the school. I dried my things and rested a bit. I was asked to tell the children about my journey.
Boreiko on the night before his death, shortly after arriving in Khandyga. Photo: Sakhaday.ru
His route followed part of the 2,031km “road of bones” from Yakutsk to Magadan. Countless prisoners of the gulag who built the road from 1932 to 1953 were also buried beneath it.
Before the war in Ukraine and the suspicion/harassment of Westerners, Oymyakon, Boreiko’s projected endpoint, was a popular draw. The town is known as the Pole of Cold, celebrated for the −67.7 °C/−89.9 °F it reached in February 1933. (A monument in the town commemorates an even colder unofficial 1924 temperature of −71.2 °C/−96.2 °F.)
Oymyakon monument. Photo: Shutterstock
Boreiko told locals that he had previously crossed the Sahara and the High Atlas Mountains, and later cycled across India to the Himalaya. In the Sahara, he wanted to overcome heat; in the mountains, altitude; and here in winter Siberia, his challenge was the cold.
He had officially registered his route in Yakutsk and received a safety briefing from a local official. Before setting out, he camped two nights in his tent to make sure his gear was up to the challenge.
On Instagram, he admitted that he had some “minor” issues with his health but that they should not impede him.
