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Its interesting, I live far north in Europe, and yes part of the year is cold and dark, but real winter is also fantastic, and the opposite, real summer, someth

Its interesting, I live far north in Europe, and yes part of the year is cold and dark, but real winter is also fantastic, and the opposite, real summer, something nobody living south get to experience is nothing short of amazing, perpetual sunlight, a pleasant warmth and a life that slows down that gives you time to reflect on bigger things. Its all in the perspective....

lucaspiller 9y ago
Its probably a fair bit warmer where you live though. This city is in Siberia which although the same latitude as Northern Europe, is a lot colder. Right now it is -20C/-5F there, and it’s not even the cold part of the year yet :-)
- zokier 9y ago
  Yeah. I grew up in northern Europe too (actually almost exactly the same latitude as Norilsk), and I agree that Siberia is whole another degree of extreme. Of course there is the climate, the difference of hitting -40 (which was what I've grew up) or -60 (Norilsk) feels pretty significant. Then there is the level of infrastructure; northern Europe enjoys high standards of living and decent enough infrastructure, which arguably helps dealing with the environment. Finally there is the degree of remoteness and isolation; this latitude is roughly 1000km north of the major cities in Nordics (Oslo/Stockholm/Helsinki). In comparison go 1000km in any direction from Norilsk and you are still in the middle of Siberia. What I find most surprising is the size of the city. 110k people seems quite large for a mining city in the middle of nowhere.
saiya-jin 9y ago
Cold & dark (especially dark) for so long would depress a hell out of most people. Real winter can be also experienced much more south, just another reason to head for mountains over weekends, and you cna have great sunny days deep in snow. I actually appreciate not having to deal with heaps of snow for simple car maintenance and just daily moving around, and having every single road clean and thus much safer to drive (or cycle/walk next to it). Summer up there ain't that great - perpetual light is annoying as hell (at lest for tourists), it is also supposedly relatively short. It is a great place for some, but there are much better places for most.
ptero 9y ago
The big difference may be with access: Norilsk, as the article implies, has neither road no rail connections to the rest of the world. A plane (expensive, few, affected by weather) is pretty much the only practical way in and out. Living in Norway and being able to go for a weekend to a larger civilization a few times per winter I suspect makes a world of difference.

lucaspiller 9y ago

Its probably a fair bit warmer where you live though. This city is in Siberia which although the same latitude as Northern Europe, is a lot colder. Right now it is -20C/-5F there, and it’s not even the cold part of the year yet :-)

zokier 9y ago
Yeah. I grew up in northern Europe too (actually almost exactly the same latitude as Norilsk), and I agree that Siberia is whole another degree of extreme. Of course there is the climate, the difference of hitting -40 (which was what I've grew up) or -60 (Norilsk) feels pretty significant. Then there is the level of infrastructure; northern Europe enjoys high standards of living and decent enough infrastructure, which arguably helps dealing with the environment. Finally there is the degree of remoteness and isolation; this latitude is roughly 1000km north of the major cities in Nordics (Oslo/Stockholm/Helsinki). In comparison go 1000km in any direction from Norilsk and you are still in the middle of Siberia. What I find most surprising is the size of the city. 110k people seems quite large for a mining city in the middle of nowhere.

saiya-jin 9y ago

Cold & dark (especially dark) for so long would depress a hell out of most people. Real winter can be also experienced much more south, just another reason to head for mountains over weekends, and you cna have great sunny days deep in snow. I actually appreciate not having to deal with heaps of snow for simple car maintenance and just daily moving around, and having every single road clean and thus much safer to drive (or cycle/walk next to it). Summer up there ain't that great - perpetual light is annoying as hell (at lest for tourists), it is also supposedly relatively short. It is a great place for some, but there are much better places for most.

ptero 9y ago

The big difference may be with access: Norilsk, as the article implies, has neither road no rail connections to the rest of the world. A plane (expensive, few, affected by weather) is pretty much the only practical way in and out. Living in Norway and being able to go for a weekend to a larger civilization a few times per winter I suspect makes a world of difference.