There is a moment in every great adventure when the world shifts beneath your feet. For explorer Charlie Walker, it came in a Siberian supermarket, comparing brands of pasta at minus 38 degrees, when his phone buzzed with a BBC alert: Russia has invaded Ukraine. He was about to begin a 600-mile solo…There is a moment in every great adventure when the world shifts beneath your feet. For explorer Charlie Walker, it came in a Siberian supermarket, comparing brands of pasta at minus 38 degrees, when his phone buzzed with a BBC alert: Russia has invaded Ukraine. He was about to begin a 600-mile solo trek through northern Russia, crossing some of the most remote, frozen wilderness on Earth. The official advice was to leave as soon as possible. He chose to stay.
On Thin Ice is the story of what happened next. A journey across a Siberian Zimnik, a frozen winter road through silent forests and tundra, past Gulag towns and disappearing indigenous villages, into the heart of a country at war with itself as much as with its neighbour. It is a story of extraordinary human warmth in the coldest place on Earth, of state surveillance and midnight knocks at the door, of weeks spent in a Russian prison cell, counting days up instead of days down. And it is a story, ultimately, about the nature of truth and a mirror it holds up to all of us.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Stranded in Yakutsk
Hear how Charlie found himself in Yakutsk the morning Russia invaded Ukraine, standing in a supermarket comparing pasta packets when his phone buzzed with the news that changed everything.
Siberia’s Ice Road
Travel with Charlie along the Zimnik, one of Siberia’s frozen winter roads, through total whiteout, wolf tracks, blinding cold, and drunk lorry drivers navigating in the dark without headlights.
The Coldest Place on Earth
Discover the warmth hidden in the coldest place on Earth: Sakha women who dressed Charlie in traditional ceremonial costumes, fed him horse blood sausage, danced with him, and sent him off with a shaman’s blessing the next morning.
Imprisoned in Putin’s Russia
Find out what it feels like to be arrested, tried, and imprisoned in Putin’s Russia, and how Charlie spent nearly four weeks in an Arctic prison cell, counting shuffling footsteps from one wall to the other.
FIND OUT MORE
Charlie Walker’s book On Thin Ice is available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook. Find it wherever books are sold.
Explore Charlie’s other expeditions and books at cwexplore.com
Follow Charlie on Instagram: @cwexplore
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CREDITS
Armchair Explorer is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Audio editing and sound design by Charles Tyrie. Produced by Armchair Productions. Find our other shows at Armchair-Productions.com
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