Walking on Baikal ice in March
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, and in late winter it freezes into something that looks more like glass than ice. In places you can see straight down into dark water, with long white cracks running through it like frozen lightning. March is a good month to go: the days are longer, the cold is easier to bear, and the ice is still thick.
Getting there
Most trips start in Irkutsk. The village of Listvyanka, on the shore near the point where the Angara river leaves the lake, is an easy first stop. For the clearest ice and the widest views, continue north to Olkhon Island. The ride takes most of a day, the last part across the ice itself in a boxy all-terrain van that the drivers treat with a mixture of affection and violence.
On the island
Khuzhir is the main village on Olkhon and a practical base. A short walk away is Cape Burkhan with Shaman Rock, a sacred place for the Buryat people — please keep to the paths and leave the ribbons on the trees alone.
The most memorable part was the sound. At night, as the temperature drops, the ice shifts and cracks with deep booms that roll across the lake. The first time it is alarming; by the third night it is oddly comforting.
The ice is not silent. It talks all night, and it never repeats itself.
What to pack
- Ice cleats or crampons that fit over your boots. Clear ice is extremely slippery.
- Layers rather than one heavy coat; the wind matters more than the thermometer.
- A spare battery kept in an inside pocket. Cold drains phones quickly.
- Sunglasses. Sun on ice and snow is brighter than you expect.
Only walk or drive on the ice where local drivers do. Conditions change from year to year and from bay to bay.