Baikal Lake – The frozen heart of Siberia

It was 07:56 in the morning and snowing heavily onto the roof of the Cape Horn headquarters.
We were ordering the last pieces of equipment before our departure for the airport. Destination: Siberia.
It seemed like that freezing weather and rigid temperatures were intended to prepare us for the Baikal. At precisely 09:25 we arrived in Venice, ready to board. The trip would be difficult, three and a half hours of flight to Moscow and then another six-hour-long connecting flight to Irkutsk, in central Siberia.
While we were approaching our destination, flying over the region of Novosibirsk, I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy a Siberian dawn – my first. Suddenly the sky was coloured with a variety of colours and, in spite of the fact it was over one of the coldest lands on earth, those pastel hues instilled in me a subtle sensation of warmth and serenity.
I quickly succeeded in falling asleep, enveloped in that magical atmosphere between enchantment and reality. Just a short time later Paolo woke me up. I opened my eyes to see an immense stretch of white around us, with no shadows or colours – just white…