Traveling in Russia in the wintertime often means wonderful shortcuts when rivers and lakes freeze over and local drivers simply plow right over them. This is particular true at Lake Baikal in Siberia where the water can freeze up to ten feet thick and support not just a highway of cars, but also actual trains: the Russians used to lay temporary rails across the ice at the beginning of winter, taking days of travel time off of skirting the massive lake.
In today’s fickle global warming times, however, ice driving is no longer as safe as it kinda used to be–as you can tell from the above photo. This driver was lucky, however, and was driving near the shoreline where the water is shallower. Had he been crossing Lake Baikal, there’d be no photos to share.
For more photographs of winter travel in Russia, be sure to jump on over to English Russia and check out their gallery.