Kamchatka On another planet

Kamchatka is pure space. Here you can safely imagine yourself as a pioneer of distant planets. Volcanic activity does not just radically redraw the landscape. But it also creates a sense of presence somewhere on Mars. And if you imagine that the landscape before your eyes can change beyond recognition in seconds, then this adds a little peppercorn)

Our journey began with exploring the surroundings of the Tolbachik volcano. And there is something to see: fresh lava fields, a unique dead forest with emerald moss, a bunch of lava cones. And it all looks perfect in space.

The first acquaintance with the lava field. A few years ago it was still in full swing. Damn jealous of those who saw it live ... I wonder how the inhabitants of Kamchatka feel when something constantly plows and explodes near them? Strength of habit, most likely.

Then pure space began - slag cones in the zone of the Great Tolbachinsky fissure eruption. I was not in Iceland, but the landscape somehow resembled pictures from the network.

BTTI took place in two stages - first the North, then the South breakthrough. We climbed to the Northern Breakthrough. It is strong to see how the lava dug a long channel on the slope. And on top of the cone, the cracks are still hot - if you stick a stick in the stones, it will light up in a couple of minutes. And it was necessary to carefully choose where to put the backpack. Otherwise, everything will melt to hell)

Panorama of the Northern Breakthrough. In the center you can see the lava river, which went down the slope.

Imagine this place during its activity. I would not want to be on the path of lava. The large fissure Tolbachinsky eruption began on July 6, 1975 at 9:45. The first stage (Northern Breakthrough), during which the eruption occurred 18 km southwest of Flat Tolbachik, ended on September 15, 1975. It was accompanied by the formation of three large and four smaller slag cones, one powerful and 15 less intense lava flows. The formation of the slag cone proceeded according to the following scenario: earthquakes, the appearance of a crack, from which the jets of pyroclastic later began to beat, and later the growth of the slag cone began.

The first slag cone operated from July 6 to August 9, completing the work with white ash emissions and reaching a height of 330 meters. He was called the Gorshkov volcano, in honor of the Soviet volcanologist. Lightning flashed during the eruption, thunder roared, and Elma's lights were observed. The second cone appeared almost immediately after the termination of the first one not far from it and lasted until September 15, rising to a height of 300 meters and completing its activity with outpourings of liquid lavas. The third cone arose on August 17 around the second and continued to operate until August 25, reaching a 150-meter height.

Landscapes are just cosmic.

Between the cones, roads rolled over the years are visible along which large KAMAZ tourists carry tourists.

Somewhere there will be our base camp! Already in the Dead Forest.

Several helicopters circled over the cones and landed somewhere among the dead trees.

The camp was set up at the Helicopter parking lot, where in 1975 he made an emergency landing of the Mi-4, whose tail is still sticking out of volcanic soil.

This dramatic place appeared during the eruption in 1975, when clouds of slag and ash covered the taiga forest. A many-meter layer of volcanic dust covered then a huge part of the forest, and all the vegetation died precisely because of its abrasive influence from the outside. From the green trees after the eruption, only black skeletons remained, and the area received the eloquent name "Dead Forest".

In Soviet times, 8 kilometers from the Dead Forest, closer to the foot of the Plosky Tolbachik volcano, there was a “lunar walker base”, also known as a Leningradskaya base.

It was the testing ground on which Mars rover-1 and Lunokhod-1 were tested, here is a real volcanic desert, the relief and soil conditions are really very similar to the lunar ones.

The weather was very severe - rain clouds swirled in the sky, covering the Tolbachik slope. Actually, it should be visible right behind this tree. An interesting light played among the skeletons of trees.

Something unimaginable was happening in heaven! But the sun quickly hid in the clouds and hopes of sunset melted ...

Another drop of light - and everything was hidden in the clouds. The gloomy place has become even more gloomy.

And then, at the border of day and night, the sky blazed! And so quickly everything went by, that only a couple of shots were made. Light rolled in a wave, filling the clouds with red. And with it came oblique rain, pouring water into the lens. You would know how much effort was spent to clear the photo of the traces of drops)