As I suspected, the weather was going to become pretty bad, so as soon as I saw the clouds building up, considering the following days would be worst, I decided to take off, without jobs, towards Ust, a very small town and my last stop in Russia.
I took off early in the morning, under the snow and with -5 ºC on the ground. I decided to fly towards the East, expecting to find Lake Kronotskoye, a large landmark (249 square km) that should be easy to spot despite the clouds. Next to this lake we can find the Kronotsky volcano, a very beautiful volcano (3,482 m) with low activity.
From here I headed north. The weather was becoming worse as I advanced, but I hoped I could see the Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest mountain of Siberia (4,754 m) and the highest active volcano of Eurasia. It actually is very active, basically continuously active, with eruptions mostly every year since it was recorded for the first time few centuries ago.
Clouds were amazing till this volcano, but as soon as I reach it, a dense fog shows up, and flying low is not an option in such a steep terrain. So I decide to turn East, towards the coast, and climb over the minimum safe altitude. My only option is either to continue, using the weather radar and a 75 nm range ADF at Ust for navigation, or turn around and return to Milkovo.
Luckily I could reach the coast and fly lower than the clouds, till Ust. To make things more interesting, he heater was broken on this last part of the trip, so I did all the approach and landing with a cabin temperature of 2 ºC. Gusk winds and turbulences on short final made the landing even funnier, considering this region is not adequate for errors...
I'm somehow happy to finish my flights over the Kurils and Kamtchatka. Although I have enjoyed these legs, the long distances, lack of navigation aids and cloudy weather made them a bit tricky to fly. Now I have to start planning carefully the following legs, since flying over the Aleutian Islands, on this season, won't be easy, maybe not even possible.
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KRASHENINNIKOV KRONOTSKY GORA-BOLSHAYA KAMEN OZERO-AZHABACHYE UST
UHPP 101500Z 18002MPS 9999 -SHSN SCT040CB BKN069 M02/M05 Q0998 R34L/110060 NOSIG RMK QFE745/0994
N/A
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