Itchayvayam
Me and Dasha – the head of our crew – on a watershed of Itchayvayam Ural-Alaskan type complex. It was a three-day ambitious route – we had to sample the main lithologies of the complex and pan several streams. 2016, Koryak Highlands.
Kamchatka
Volcanoes, field routes, portraits, and wildlife tied to my Kamchatka period (2015–2022).
Ostry Tolbachik
A view of Ostry Tolbachik edifice, somewhere from the lava field of 2012–2013 eruption. Pahoehoe lava is visible in the foreground. June 2018. I missed the football championship in my home St. Petersburg for this trip – but never regretted it.
Koryaksky and Avachinsky
A view of Koryaksky and Avachinsky active volcanoes from the upper lift station of the Gora Moroznaya ski resort. January 2018.
All-terrain dog
The main means of transportation in our 2015 mapping fieldwork was an all-terrain vehicle. A huge noisy machine that by its outlook is more suitable for the military. It could cross the tundra and was much cheaper compared to helicopter.
Bear on Shiveluch
We were climbing the western remnant of the old Shiveluch edifice when a pair of brown bears threw themselves towards us. It was scary! Though, turned out that the bears – a mother and a quite grown-up cub – were even more scared. By accident, we pushed them towards the cliff, and they just did not know where to go! On this photo you can see the heels of a cub – he/she was running for their life!
Tolbachik lava cave
One of the multiple lava caves formed during 2012–2013 Tolbachik fissure eruption. During the eruption, these caves were the channels through which lava flowed. Where the roof of the channels collapsed, skylights formed. The entrance into this cave was one of these skylights. In 2018, when the photo was taken, the temperature in some caves still exceeded 80ºC (though in this one it was ≈30ºC – still much warmer than +5ºC outside).
Younger me
Me, during the route on Machevna mafic complex. I am just 22-years old here, holding an old-school geological hammer. We were given such hammers at work, though this one was personal. Now I prefer a small Estwing sledge, but I must admit – these old hammers have a style.
Mountain weather
I took this photo in 2016. It was the very end of the field season, and the snow on the mountains was new. Matysken river valley, Koryak Highlands.
Field portrait
A portrait of my happy self, Tumrok range. This was a two-week fieldwork campaign that I organized using RFBR grant money. We studied late Cretaceous arc picrites and related plutonic complex. In the background, behind the clouds, there are volcanoes of Klyuchevskaya group – Udina, Tolbachik, Zimina. August 2021.
Portrait
Me, sitting on a remnant of picritic sill. August 2021, Tumrok range, Kamchatka.