SOVIET SECRETS AND MYSTIC PEOPLE OF THE DEEP URALS

We offer bespoke Ural Tours for private travel parties and lone wolves alike. As a traveller-oriented boutique operator, tailored trips and bespoke adventures are our bread and butter. Get in touch for more info on our customised journeys to the Urals! 

DAY 1 – Khanty-Mansiysk

Meet ‘n Greet at Khanty-Mansiysk Airport and half-day city tour around Khanty-Mansiysk, a once-sleepy and quintessentially-Soviet sub-arctic provincial town that has been recently transformed into a bizarre urban experiment of postmodernist architectonic shapes and kitschy monuments endowed by enormous oil revenues.

Khanty-Mansiysk also happens to be the capital of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug aka Yugra, a self-governing region originally created by the Bolsheviks as a putative administrative homeland for the aboriginal Mansi and Khanty people, the two Finno-Ugric titular nationalities inhabiting the area since the dawn of time.

During your time in Khanty-Mansiysk you'll have the unique chance to meet with members of the local Khanty and Mansi communities, who will share with you the fascinating tales and the mystic secrets of their endangered culture.

Overnight in Khanty-Mansiysk.

DAY 2 – Man-Pupu-Ner

Morning drive to the quintessentially Soviet city of Nyagan, a drab urban experiment rising amid the thick forests of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. 

Soviet-themed city tour, transfer to the local heliport and pre-flight briefing with our USSR-born chopper pilot.

Two-hour helicopter flight to the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve in the neighbouring Komi Republic, an autonomous geopolitical entity within the Russian Federation named after the Finno-Ugric people still inhabiting it.

Our Soviet helicopter will disembark us on the Man-Pupu-Ner Plateau, an heath-covered scenic massif famous for the namesake rock formations rising on top of it.

Deemed one of the Seven Wonders of Russia, the Manpupuner Pillars are a set of seven sericite-quartzite schist stone columns ranging between 30 and 42 metres in height and resembling some kind of primordial giants or (more prosaically) a series of inverted beer bottles planted in the ground.

There are numerous legends associated with Manpupuner as the formations were once considered sacred by the local Mansi and Komi people, and climbing them was regarded as a sin.

Once on the plateau, we will enjoy a guided tour of the Manpupuner Pillars led by a local expert, who will teach us everything about these awe-striking rock formations: from their geological history to the arguably more interesting tales, myths and legends surrounding them.

From such an elevated viewpoint you will also be able to admire the Grand Ural Mountain Range in all its glory and get a glimpse of the impossible-to-pronounce holy massif of Pecheryatalakhchakhl, yet another place of reverence and awe for the local Mansi dwellers.

Depending on your level of fitness, we will spend the rest of the day either hiking around the plateau or simply relaxing in the company of the park rangers: that’s entirely up to you and we can even split if some of you feel lazier than the others!  

Bonfire dinner and tent overnight in Man-Pupu-Ner.

DAY 3 – Dyatlov Pass

After an early campsite breakfast, we will board our Soviet helicopter for a further 30-minute flight south along the Ural Range.

Through the porthole we will be able to see another trump card of the Northern Ural region: Mount Otorten, at the top of which two more stone pillars rise from a Scotland-reminiscent heath vegetation.

Today’s flight destination is the dreadful and forbidden Kholat-Syakhl (Dead Mountain), where, according to a local legend, nine Mansi hunters died while chasing a mysterious deer-like creature. 

Many years later, in the very same place, an equally bewildering episode happened; this time, however, it wasn’t neither a myth nor a tale from the local folklore: the Kholat-Syakhl area was, in fact, the theatre of the notorious and yet-to-be-solved Dyatlov Pass Riddle.

The 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident was a mysterious event where nine Soviet hikers died in uncertain circumstances. The experienced trekking group, who were all from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, had established a camp on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl, in an area now named in honor of the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov. During the night, something caused them to tear their way out of their tents and flee the campsite, all while inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures. After the group's bodies were discovered, an investigation by Soviet authorities determined that six had died from hypothermia while the other three showed signs of physical trauma. One victim had a fractured skull; two others had major chest fractures and the body of one of the group was missing both its eyes. One of the victims was missing his tongue. The investigation concluded that a "compelling natural force" was behind the deaths.

Numerous scientific and conspiracy theories have been put forward to account for the unexplained deaths, including animal attacks, hypothermia, avalanche, katabatic winds, infrasound-induced panic, random drifters, military experiments, KGB death commando, as well as a few more imaginative conjectures such as UFO landings, a Yeti gone berserk, madness-induced rampage and teleportation.

Our excursion will include a de rigueur pilgrimage to the Soviet-era memorial stele and a short hike to the exact location where the ripped-off tents and the bodies were found by the rescuers.

After a quick picnic lunch we’ll board again our helicopter for the final flight back to Nyagan, from where we’ll then transfer by minivan to Khanty-Mansiysk with planned arrival around dinner time.

Traditional Siberian dinner and overnight in Khanty-Mansiysk.

DAY 4 – FAREWELL TO THE URALS 

After sharing a last meal together, we'll take care of your transfer to Khanty-Mansiysk Airport for your homeward flight.

End of the tour.

4990 €