But we know that some of our readers have a strong adventurous streak.

This occasional series is for you and for the rest of us who like to read, from the comfort of our armchairs, about the things that others dare to do.



Spit freezes into a pellet in mid-flight, breath crystallises and audibly tinkles to the snow, plastic carrier bags stiffen and snap in two.



This is Oymyakon , the coldest village in the world.



Located in Russia's Siberian republic of Yakutia , it would be just another remote farming hamlet were it not for the title of coldest permanently inhabited settlement, having registered a ferocious minus 71.2 degrees in 1926.



Today, adventurers from around the globe come to brave the monster frosts of the Cold Pole, which this cluster of log cabins with about 1000 inhabitants proudly calls itself.



"Minus 50 or 60 is unthinkable for most people and they come to see how it is possible to live in such conditions," said Albina Vinokurova, a teacher at the village school, where the kids rejoice when the mercury dips below 52 degrees and classes are cancelled.



Visitors in recent years have hailed from Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic and Japan, arriving by plane, car and even bicycle.



"These are people who are prepared to rough it; they don't need luxury hotels, but stay with families, go hunting, ride reindeer," said Vitaly Kondakov , head of tourism for the vast Oymyakon district.



Despite the language barrier (some basic phrasebook Russian is advised), a few dozen foreigners ventured here last year.



More are expected this year and not necessarily only those in their prime as the area actively promotes its unique tourist potential.



"Here I successfully experienced an air temperature of minus 51 degrees," 84-year-old Japanese tourist Ishiko Honzo wrote last February in a visitor's book.



Three hundred and fifty kilometres below the Arctic Circle, Oymyakon's latitude and continental climate combine with its valley location about 2000 metres above sea level to produce a pocket of intense cold. Temperatures vary wildly in winter, threatening disappointment for frost-seekers.



After travelling several days from Moscow, I was dismayed to arrive to a paltry minus 38. Had this held, it would have been like diving in the Red Sea and finding no fish. But silent prayers are apparently heeded by the natural spirits revered by the pagan Yakuts , an Asiatic race thought to have its roots in Mongolia or Tibet.



The skies clear over Oymyakon and a minus 56-degree shroud drops on the village.



Phenomena such as freezing spit occur below minus 60 degrees, although gusts of exhaled breath thicken with a soft, roaring noise in the mid-50s, as if you're blowing in the embers of a fire.



Arrivals here can count on a hearty welcome and are lodged in private homes for the equivalent of about $45 a day.



A small purpose-built hotel is due to open in the coming weeks in the outlying village of Kuidusun .



A calendar highlight in March is a 1270-kilometre motor rally to the pole from the republican capital Yakutsk . International interest in the rally has been increasing recently.



Oymyakon and neighbouring Tomtor , which also vies for the title of coldest village, this year will hold the fourth Festival of the Cold Pole, capping the rally with a program of festivities and, of course, the frosts, slightly abated by March but still formidable. Last year's harshest period registered minus 65.



"We'll never get 71 again because of global warming," said Valery Vinokurov, the local weather monitor for the meteorological service.



By contrast, the short summers are stifling, with the mercury shooting past 35 degrees.



As swarms of mosquitos descend, the season is spent hunting moose, rams and bear, and gathering firewood and hay in preparation for the icy months ahead.



Apart from the challenges of the cold, the local diet also isn't for the faint-hearted or vegetarians.



A midmorning snack of horse meat can be followed by moose and macaroni for lunch and cow entrails soup and rabbit for supper. Fresh vegetables and fruit are luxuries that have to be brought in from the south.



In winter there is little to see in the village except the monument to the frost measured 78 years ago by Russian geographer Sergei Obruchev .



But tramping around in multiple layers of clothing is an adrenalin-pumping experience in itself, and a night-time sortie to a dark outhouse in minus 50 is a sheer test of nerves.



The stars in the huge night sky are vivid, as in few places on earth, and the fiercest cold often is accompanied by the tumbling, multicoloured displays of the northern lights.



Inbound transport is limited after the suspension of flights to Tomtor from Yakutsk in the 1990s due to costs.



Special runs by a twin-prop Antonov-24 service the festival, otherwise travellers must fly two hours to the district centre of Ust-Nera and arrange a mini-van ride the remaining 450 kilometres for about $75. The land route from Yakutsk runs 1000 spectacular kilometres over frozen rivers, taiga and mountains, taking about 18 hours on sometimes hazardous stretches of road.



Russian travel visas are required to visit Yakutia, which is a six-hour flight from Moscow.



Local companies arrange trips to the Cold Pole for rally participants and independent travellers.

See www.arctictravel-yakutia.com, www.yakutiatravel.com or www.ibtour.ru .