Kamchatka’s Giants

 Duration: 14 days / 13 nights

Type of tour and means of transportation involved: vehicles and hiking, volcano climbing, fishing-and-rafting, bathing in thermal springs, excursions

Time available for pre-asssembled groups of fourteen: Jun 18 through Aug 25

Planned kick-offs for ad hoc groups in 2018: Jun 18, Jul 11, Jul 26, Aug 10, Aug 25

Difficulty level: no above-average level of physical fitness expected

Comfort level: twins and doubles in out-of-city lodging and two-man tents

Catering: breakfasts in café at lodging; three meals cooked on gas stove every day while en route

Why go:

1. Travel to the very heart of Kamchatka, including the Klyuchevskaya volcanic region and the Flat Tolbachik and Sharp Tolbachik volcanoes. Excursions to the epicentre of Flat Tolbachik eruptions, ascent to the Northern Cone, tour of lava caves and fields, visit to the Dead Forest, and viewing of consequences of the most recent 2013 eruption.

2. Climb the Mutnovsky (2,323m) and Gorely (1,829m) volcanoes. See the active crater and old craters with lakes in them.

3. Rafting experience on the river Bystraya. Rapids and fishing. Cook a real Russian-style fish soup near the river. Good chance of encountering a brown bear.

4. Visit one of Russia’s best ethnographic museums.

5. Bathe in hot thermal springs.

6. Sea cruise featuring fishing experience. Go out into the Pacific on a boat.

7. See primeval nature and results of volcanic processes.

8. Familiarise yourself with the culture and everyday life of indigenous peoples of Kamchatka.

9. Meet like-minded people!

Price per person: 159 000 RUB

Tour programme

Day 1: Arrival
Meet your guide at Yelizovo Airport. Transfer to Petropavlovsk (25km), check in at doubles and/or twins in hotel. Briefing over supper and stress relief time.

Day 2: Central Kamchatka, Kozyrevsk
Breakfast, early departure. Ride an all-terrain vehicle to Kozyrevsk with a dinner stop in Milkovo. Check in at private lodging. Supper, rest. The distance involved (560km) means it will be a whole day of driving.

Day 3: New Tolbachik Fissure Eruption
Breakfast, set out for the base of the Flat Tolbachik volcano. Set up camp. Explore the marks left by 2013 eruptions. Explore the new cone and lava flows. Dinner. Supper, rest.

Day 4: Climb Flat Tolbachik
Breakfast. Safety briefing. Climb to the crater of the Flat Tolbachik (3,085m) with a stop for snacks, hot tea, sandwiches, and sweets. The climb takes eight to ten hours. Tour the crater, return to camp, supper, rest.

Days 5: Dead Forest, Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption, and Esso
Breakfast. Break camp. Proceed to the northern cones of the 1975 Tolbachik Fissure Eruption, including climbing and viewing a crater on top of one of the cones where volcanic activity can still be observed. Dinner while en route. Proceed to the Dead Forest. Transfer to Esso. Settle at lodging with thermal springs. Supper, rest.

Day 6: Esso, the Switzerland of Kamchatka. Ethnographic excursion. Nomadic camp
Breakfast. Visit the museum of ethnography and environmental awareness at Bystraya and museum of the bear. Dinner at base. Tour nomadic camp and bone-carving workshop. Dinner at camp. The programme will take all day. Supper at base.

Day 7: Transfer to the Bystraya, set up camp
Breakfast. Depart for the river (300km to go), dinner en route. Set up camp, fishing from the bank. Supper, rest.

Day 8: Rafting experience and back to Paratunka
Breakfast. Prepare rafts. Safety briefing. Raft-and-fish experience (char, rainbow trout, grayling). Your catch will be in the soup for dinner. Return to lodging at Paratunka. Supper, rest.

Day 9 (for a surcharge): helicopter excursion to the Valley of Geysers, Uzon caldera, and Nalychevo nature parkBreakfast. Depart for heliport in Nikolaevka. Fly to the Valley of Geysers, one of the most outstanding geographic discoveries of the 20th century and the pearl of Kamchatka. Marvel at the shocking beauty of dormant and active volcanoes, mountain ridges, vast expanses of taiga, rivers and lakes. The whole excursion takes six hours, including two and half hours’ flying time. Return to heliport, transfer to hotel, supper, rest.

Day 9: Cruise in Avacha Bay, fishing, and the Pacific
Depart to the city port. Six-hour cruise of the Avacha Bay, including viewing the panorama of Petropavlovsk, the mouth of the Avacha river, and the Avacha Bay. Tikhaya Bay, Babushkin Kamen isle, Stanitsky cape, and Three Brothers rock formations can be also seen en route.

Exciting ledgering opportunities with greenlings, lenok, and flatfish to be caught near the Three Brothers, Bezymyanny cape, Starichkov isle. View rookeries where guillemots, kittiwakes, and cormorants nest together. Dinner on board, return to lodging.

Day 11: Depart for Mutnovsky
Breakfast. Ride an all-terrain vehicle to the volcanic plateau near the base of the Mutnovsky volcano, taking about three hours. Tour Vilyuchinsky waterfalls, including two hours of hiking. Snacks en route and proceed to the pass. Rest near the base of the Vilyuchinsky volcano and proceed to the base of the Mutnovsky. Set up base camp, supper, rest.

Day 12: Climb the Mutnovsky
Breakfast. Briefing. Set out for the crater with the hiking part expected to take four to seven hours, depending on the situation with snow patches. Cross vast, never-melting snow fields and a narrow canyon cracked through the crater. Visit an 80-metre waterfall in the Opasny canyon. Climb to the summit (three to four hours). Tour the crater and observe volcanic processes. Snacks, return to base camp, supper, rest.

Day 13: Climb the Gorely
Breakfast, break camp. Proceed to the base of the Gorely volcano. Briefing. Climb up and view the craters, taking five to eight hours. Snack en route. Walk down, supper, return to hotel.

Day 14: Departure
Breakfast. Check out. Transfer to Yelizovo. Visit fish market, transfer to the airport, departure.

What to pack:  
- backpack, 40 litres (to pack your personal belongings)
- boots with lugged soles;
- spare footwear;
- windproof jacket;
- warm clothes (sweatshirt, trousers, socks, cap, gloves);
- rain cover; 
- light headgear;
- swimming gear;
- sunglasses;
- toiletries;
- repellent;
- sunscreen.

You must carry your own equipment yourself.

Avacha Bay cruises are for ad hoc groups of fifteen people.

Attention! We reserve the right to alter the sequence of events while providing the entirety of the programme!