A daring travel vlogger who ventured to the coldest inhabited location on the planet nearly lost his nose to frostbite in merely 15 minutes. Ruhi Çenet, a Turkish YouTuber and travel content creator renowned for exploring some of the world’s most hard-to-reach destinations, journeyed to Oymyakon in Russia’s Sakha Republic.
In this location, temperatures can plummet to an utterly bone-chilling -67.7°C – the lowest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere.
Oymyakon, which also holds the record for the coldest temperature documented outside Antarctica, boasts approximately 2,000 residents as of 2024 reports and sits within the Oymyakon plateau, located in what the Guardian characterises as a “bowl-shaped depression” featuring a dry, frosty climate.
In his video entitled The Coldest Village on Earth: Oymyakon, Ruhi took a seven-hour eastbound flight from Moscow before completing a 900km journey to the Siberian community, where a thermometer showed a staggering -60.5°C upon his 2am arrival.
The vlogger was subsequently filmed wrapping himself in over 20 clothing layers “just to stay alive”, including reindeer fur footwear, trousers, and an overcoat, as he braced himself to leave a 30°C dwelling and face the brutal conditions outside.
According to narration in the footage, the content creator – who developed ice crystals on his eyelashes and experienced stinging skin within moments of stepping outdoors – described how the community endures such extreme cold that mobile devices cease functioning, whilst any vehicles left unprotected freeze within hours.
Ruhi raised his thumb towards the camera, revealing a substantial, yellow blister developing on his skin, and, in two dramatic shots, he was also captured holding aloft the frozen carcasses of a wolf and what seemed to be a rabbit.
Subsequently in the video, during a segment documenting the daily routine of a local cattle farmer called Yevdokiya, Ruhi’s face abruptly lost sensation.
According to the narrator’s words: “I couldn’t move the muscle on the left side, like I was having facial paralysis. When my nose started freezing. Yevdokiya noticed right away.”
The camera then captured a close-up of Ruhi’s nose, which, after remaining outdoors for “just over 15 minutes”, had begun turning white in patches along the tip, a clear indication of a severe condition.
He enquired: “Is it frostbite?”, receiving an emphatic response of “Yeah”.
The narrator went on: “The cold shrinks the blood vessels and eventually reduces blood circulation. Without enough warmth, water inside each cell freezes into ice crystals, causing the cells to rupture and triggering a stabbing pain and tissue to die.”
Ruhi was immediately urged to shield his face and exercise caution or it “might turn black”.
As the crew hurried back to a cluster of buildings, it was explained how, from that moment forward, Ruhi couldn’t remain outside for longer than 10 minutes at a stretch, or he would risk the frostbite worsening.
Luckily, Yevdokiya offered what she termed as a “cure” for the condition. She presented a bottle that contained aloe and alcohol, then dipped a swab into the mixture and handed it to Ruhi.
As per the narrator’s translation, she advised: “You soak it like this and apply it to the area that’s frozen and don’t rub it, okay? Otherwise, you’ll damage the vessels and the capillaries and it’ll lead to sores.”
Ruhi, who was seen holding the swab to his nose (filming subsequently continued), appeared to have escaped unscathed from his encounter with frostbite by the end of the video.