Zabroska · authored expeditions since 2014
Taiga
205 kilometres in 5 days · the Polar Urals
A helicopter puts the group down in the upper reaches of the Sob and leaves. After that it is only you, the guide and the river that will lead you back to people.
Two days on foot over the Zayachy pass, three days rafting down the Sob to Labytnangi. We do not build a route around good spots for photographs: it is built around what the taiga does to a person once backing out is no longer possible.
The group is small — eight people. This is not about a record and not about survival: the pace is forgiving, the pack weighs up to 18 kg, and every evening there is hot food and a dry tent. But turning back halfway is not an option.
Meeting in Salekhard at 6:00. The first thing the guide does is lay out the contents of every pack on a tarpaulin. Anything surplus stays at the base: in five days you will use neither a second pair of jeans nor a book.
At 9:40 the Mi-8 collects the group and carries it to the upper Sob in 55 minutes. The helicopter leaves, and a silence sets in that most people turn out not to be ready for. The nearest road is 90 kilometres away.
We pitch camp on the moraine and work out the stoves, the knots and how to sleep at −2 °C without freezing. Lights out at 21:00: tomorrow is a long day.
Up at 5:30, moving at 7:00 — in the Polar Urals the weather turns after midday, and the pass has to be crossed in the morning. The first six kilometres go through dwarf pine, then the boulder field begins: live rocks the size of a fridge that you have to learn to walk across rather than clamber over.
At the saddle, 1128 metres, there is lunch and twenty minutes to look back. From here you can see everything you have covered, and it is the most honest motivation on the route.
The descent into the valley is gentle and long. We reach camp around seven in the evening. In the evening the guide takes out the map and shows where the river will be tomorrow.
Half a day descending along the stream to the launch point. There a cache flown in by helicopter is waiting: frames, floats, paddles, dry bags and food for the remaining three days.
We assemble two catamarans — shared work, some three hours, and the first moment when the group stops being eight strangers. The guide runs the briefing: commands, seating, what to do if you end up in the water.
Twelve kilometres of calm water as practice — and camp on a shingle spit. From this point on the packs travel rather than walk.
On this stretch the Sob speeds up and starts to work: three riffles and two grade II rapids. Nothing lethal — but enough that by evening everyone has wet sleeves and a completely different look on their face.
Before each rapid we pull in, the guide runs it first and shows the line from the bank. We go through one crew at a time, the second covering from the water. This is the only part of the route where commands are followed without discussion.
Lunch is on the water, sandwiches and a flask. In the evening, fishing: there is grayling in the Sob, and it is yours if you know how.
The last day is the fastest: the current does three quarters of the work for you. The river comes out of the mountains, the banks drop low, and at some point a power line pylon appears on the horizon. It is always an unwelcome moment, and we say so honestly.
Packing up in Labytnangi: we take the catamarans apart, dry them and hand in the kit. A shower, hot food in the café by the station and the first steady mobile signal in five days.
Transfer to the station. The train to Moscow leaves at 22:40, the plane from Salekhard the next morning; we help with either.
The full list of 34 items comes by e-mail once you have booked. All personal kit can be hired — 12,000 ₽ for a set.
From two people — 5 % off. Eight at most.
The deposit fixes both the place and the price. A full refund if you pull out no later than 21 days before the start. After that the deposit stays with us: the helicopter and the food drop are paid for in advance.
Pay the depositThe place is held for 48 hours after a request — enough to look at tickets and talk it over at home.
Fixes both the place and the price. If the cost of the helicopter goes up, there is nothing more to pay.
The remainder can be split into two payments with no interest: 30 and 14 days before the start.
We return every rouble or move you to another date — your choice. It has happened twice in 11 years.
«There are no heroes on a route. There is the person who put dry socks on in time, and the person who could not be bothered».
Has been going to the Polar Urals since 2011, with 63 expeditions on the Sob, the Kozhim and the Shchuchya behind him. Eight years in the Salekhard search and rescue unit, an instructor in water tourism, second category.
Author of all five Zabroska routes. He puts the groups together himself and turns people down honestly if the route would be bad for them — roughly one in five.
Formally no, but you need to be fit. If you can cover 20 kilometres of rough ground with a 15 kg pack and get up the next day and do it again, this will suit you. If you are unsure, write to us: the guide will ask five questions and give you an honest answer. Turning someone down before the start is fine; taking them off the route on the third day is not.
Listen to the guide. In 63 expeditions bears have been seen 19 times, all at more than 200 metres, and all of them left of their own accord. In camp the food is hung up, the guides carry flares and a hunter's signal. The full briefing is on the first evening, before it gets dark.
There is no mobile network from day one to day five. The guide has a satellite telephone — you can call home on it once a day, free. Plus a tracker: those at home see your point on a map in real time, and we send the link before departure.
16–18 kg for men, 12–14 kg for women: personal things plus your share of the group load. From the third day everything travels on the catamaran — so it is heavy for exactly two days out of five.
Up to the third day evacuation by helicopter is possible — it is expensive (from 180,000 ₽) and covered by the extended insurance, which we strongly advise taking. From the third day the group is on the water, and there is no getting off there: there is one river and it leads only forward. That is why on the first day the guide watches the people more closely than the kit.
From 16, only together with a parent, and after a conversation with the guide. This route is not a family format; for teenagers we have a six-day Sob without the pass — ask about that separately.
Leave your contacts and a guide will call back within the day, ask a few questions about your fitness and experience, and tell you plainly whether this route suits you or not.
The place is held for 48 hours with no payment. The deposit comes after the conversation, not before.
