Land on Man-Pupu-Nyor

Every journey has its own climax: the place that started it all. And often the road to this point X on the map is taken for granted… Well, think of a plane/bus/train/car (underline as appropriate)… However, in the case of the Man-Pupu-Nyor plateau, everything is different. 

The very road to the plateau, especially in winter on snowmobiles, is already a separate adventure. If you’re lucky to have frosty, sunny weather – then you’ll have a breezy ride of about 100 kilometers through the taiga and the same distance further on the frozen Pechora River, enjoying the view around. And if the river thaws because of warmer temperature, well… you’ll quickly learn how to pull snowmobiles out of all sorts of holes and pits. 😉

And yet, in our opinion, the best weather on the Man-Pupu-nyor plateau is a snowstorm!

Of course, it’s borderline impossible to create content in such conditions, but when the elements take the reins, the plateau with its stone pillars looks like a different planet. To reach a distant planet, you need an experienced captain. 👩‍🚀 👨‍🚀🚀

To “fly to this other planet”, you need an experienced ship captain. Alexey Larionov, the expert of the entire Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve, helped us. Without him, we would have soon abandoned the idea to move forward no matter what. 💪🏻

How to land on Man-Pupu-nyor?

👀  First off, decide on the season. It depends on the weather how you get to the legendary weathering pillars. Then send an application for a visit and pay for the visit on the official website of the Pechoro-Ilychsky Reserve.

☀️ From mid-June to mid-September, travelers use an airboat to cover the distance from the Ust-Unya village to the Shezhim-Pechorsky cordon on the first day and to the mouth of the Podkopenniy stream on the second day. Then there is a 10-kilometer hike on foot to the mountain camp on the Vologoda edge. And, from there, the stone pillars are within easy reach.

❄️ From the beginning of February to the end of March the tourists first have to cover several hundreds of kilometers on snowmobiles, first through the taiga, then over the frozen Pechora River, in order to effectively park their steel sleds at the foot of Man-Pupu-Nyor.

🚁 If weather conditions and budget allow, then on the same dates you can get to the poles by helicopter. In summer, they fly from the vicinity of Troitsk-Pechorsk, in winter - from Ukhta. Flight time: about two hours.

⚠️ In other months, a trip to one of the seven wonders of Russia is a dangerous undertaking, due to bad weather and the absence of EMERCOM inspectors in the reserve during this period.

📆 The weather on Man-Pupu-Nyor is volatile and unpredictable. You can immediately throw out all weather forecasts and close all apps that show wind speed. If the ‘Shaman’ (as the first pillar on the plateau is called) wants to show you forests and hills, the wind will calm down and the clouds will break. If he doesn’t want to, the sky will darken in a matter of minutes and a snowstorm will begin.

🧣 Many northern peoples have a saying: “There’s no bad weather, there’s bad clothing.” That’s exactly the case here: thermal underwear, polar fleece, a windproof layer, warm pants and jacket, hunting boots and a mask -now you can wander the plateau for hours, even in stormy winds. 🥾