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Post-symposium excursion I - Kamchatka (Pavel Krestov): July 26, 2020 - August 02, 2020
Excursion start: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 26 July, 2020, 18:00
Finish: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 02 August, 2020, 18:00
Capacity 20 persons
COST: 1100 USD per person
This excursion is fully booked on time of 23:57 UTS 06.01.2020. The waiting list is closed. Decision on inclusion of persons from the waiting list to the main group will be made on 25 February, 2020.
One of the most extreme corners of the world’s boreal zone with a variety of vegetation you would never expect at these latitudes elsewhere in a world. These include beautiful Betula ermanii forests that survive what may be the deepest snow in Northeast Asia, endless Pinus pumila thickets, tall-herb (really tall!) meadows and a variety of tundra types adapted to continental and oceanic conditions. The major highlights are volcanoes; 300 are dormant and 30 are active. Some of them are very active now. We will visit two major groups of volcanoes: the Klyuchevskaya group (includes Klyuchevskoy Volcano itself, Bezymyanny, Tolbachik) and the Avachinskaya group (home volcanoes for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city. These sites provide superb natural laboratories to study plant succession and thus fascinating field excursion destinations.
Transportation notes
Flights: from Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky; 3 hours 20 minutes; two companies provide direct flights: Aeroflot and S7. It is advisable to consider two variants of itinerary: take oneway ticket from Vladivostok, and after excursion take oneway ticket to Moscow and continue to home country, or fly back to Vladivostok, and then to home country. Price of return ticket from Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the fall 2019 was 19 600 roubles.
Specific instructions
Limit number of participants – 20. Main vehicle is a military off road truck. Please be ready to stay in the hotel rooms or log cabins for 2 or 3 persons and in tents. It is recommended to have mountain boots and some protection for your legs against firm shrubs. Mountain walking sticks can be helpful. Weather is hardly predictable in mountainous areas, temperatures in alpine zone can suddenly drop by 10 degrees and rain can be changed by snow very quickly. It is strictly recommended to have rain-protected wear and warm switers. Umbrellas are normally useless. Remember that cold and wind are major dangerous factors in Kamchatka. Mosquitoes are abundant, but nobody was killed by them, just have some repellents, if you don't like them. Bears sometimes kill people, but cold and wind do this 1000 times more frequently. We will have protection against bears.
Also important to realise that Kamchatka will be probably your first ever experience of being in unpopulated area. This means no comfortable trails, maximum closeness to wild nature and no medicinal facilities nearby. We will have very standard set of medications with us and satellite phone for emergency, but it is very advisable to report on your health condition immediately after feeling something wrong and to have all medications prescribed by your doctor with you.
More details will be sent to excursion participants directly
Before registration, please make sure you have registered as a participant of the 63rd IAVS symposium. You will need your registration number that came with the invoice for registration fee payment (invoice number). Your participation in excursion is secured when you receive our confirmation.
Contact person: Pavel krestov [krestov@botsad.ru]
Excursion itinerary
 Excursion map  Endemic to Kamchatka Leontopodium kamtschaticum & friends  & friends  Climate diagram for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky station | July 25 Arrival to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, meeting in airport, transportation to hotel in Yelizovo suburbs. For those who arive early morning, excursion to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city, visiting museum of natural history, climbing the mountains within city, first look on Kamchatka Betula ermannii forests, visiting major viewpoints in the city. Overnight stay in hotel in Yelisovo. |
| July 26 8:00 - excursion to the coast of Pacific: coastal vegetation (Leymus mollis, Mertensia maritima, Lathyrus maritimus, Rosa rugosa), wet meadows, Betula kamtshatica forests. Then climbing Kozelsky volcano along the gradient of tephra deposits from the Avachinsky volcano eruption of 1945. Succession patterns on tephra deposits and lahars. Betula ermannii forest developed before and after the eruption of 1945. Lowered alpine vegetation on tephra deposits. Returning to the same hotel. | |
| July 27 8:00 - checking out from the hotel and long drive to Esso town in central Kamchatka (about 500 km) with several short stops on the way to observe heathland in the frost pocket areas enriched with tundra species, Betula ermannii forests, Larix cajanderi forests, Picea jezoensis forests. Overnight stay in small hotel in Esso town. | |
| July 28 8:00 - excursion to Dygyren-Olengende mountain (day climb about 900 m) to observe a variety of vegetation of the Central Ridge of Kamchatka that has not been invluenced with volcanic activity. Longer stops in Pinus pumila thickets, Larix cajandery forests, Betula ermannii forests, Altus fruticosa thichets, nival meadows and tundras. Overnight stay in Esso town. | |
| July 29 Checking out from the hotel and trip to Tolbachick volcano. Short stops on dry river to observe its activity in morning and day time, in Populus suaveolens forests, on the lava flows of different ages to compare the different successional stage of forest vegetation. Reaching the place called "deadwood", installing the camp. Overnight stay in tents. | |
| July 30 Excursion on tephra fields and lava flows of different ages to observe vegetation at different successional stages, climbing cones of the Great Tolbachic Fissure Eruption of 1975. Observation of lava fields formed after eruption of 2012. Elevation to climb by feet 400 m. Returning to the camp. Overnight stay in tents. | |
| July 31 7:00 - folding the camp and start moving to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (about 550 km) with several stops on the way. Overnight stay in hotel in Yelizovo. | |
| August 01 Excursion to Nachiki, climbing the mountain crossing Betula ermannii forest belt and Alnus fruticosa belt, reaching the lowered alpine tundra. For those, who wish to take helicopter tour to the Valley of Geisers (not included in excursion package), it will be the day to make it. Overnight stay in hotel in Yelizovo. | |
| August 02 Excursion to the saddle between Avachinsky and Koryaksky volcanoes (drive to elevation of 1100 m). Observation of tundra vegetation characteristic of southern Kamchatka. Overnight stay in hotel [included in package]. End of excursion. |
 Coast of Pacific near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city |
 Mertensia maritima, one of the typical representative of Asian coastal flora |
 Dygyren-Olengende mountains near Esso town is a place with vegetation representative to Central Kamchatka Ridge |
 Am alpine lawn with Rhododendron camtschaticum b |
 Snow patches on Dygyren-Olengende mountains remain in July at elevation 1100 m a.s.l. |
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 Eastern Ridge of Kamchatka is one of the most active parts of the Pacific ring of fire. Klyuchevskaya sopka erupting. |
 Larix cajanderi forests predominate in central Kamchatka |
 Tolbachik scene in 2010. This landscape was formed after the Great Fissure Eruption of 1975 |
 Dead forests. Larches were killed by tephra from the eruption of 1975 |
 Cones formed in the epicenter of the Great Fissure Eruption of 1975 remain unpopulated |
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 Salix tschuktschorum is one of successfull plants on old lava outcrops |
 Papaver microcarpum |
 Oxytropis revoluta |
 Another appearance of Salix tschuktschorum |
 Epilobium latifolium |
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 Arnica lessingii |
 Salix erythrocarpa - endemic to Kamchatka |
 Castilleja pallida |
 Kamchatka "Valley of the Geysers" one of world's four major sites of geiser activity. Accessible only by helicopter |
 Caldera Uzon is largest thermal area in Kamchatka. Accessible only by helicopter |
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