What Is 'Vymorozka' Or 'Freezing Out'? How Siberian Workers Carry Out World's 'Hardest Job'

Vymorozka or "freezing out": A process of chipping ice off ships encased in it and locating areas of repair. A job that has to be done in the world's harshest climate conditions wherein Siberian workers toil in subzero temperatures carrying out the backbreaking and tedious labour to maintain the hulking vessels during the bitter winter. The temperatures in the snow-covered shipyard in Russia's Far East might drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 F).

The vessels remain docked in the harbour of Yakutsk on the banks of the Lena River, Siberia's economic lifeblood in summer, during the winter months. Locals in Yakutia, Russia's largest republic by landmass, name "vymorozka" as one of the hardest jobs in the world, but the workers themselves say it's all a matter of perspective.

"You dress the right way and that's it. When you come (to a heated building) and get undressed, it's like a sauna, steam rises from you," worker Mikhail Klus, 48, told Reuters as he took a break from cutting through the ice with a chainsaw.

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"I don't think it's the hardest job - there are jobs even harder than that, but it's probably one of the hardest jobs...One needs to try to understand needs to love the cold and working in it."

The work requires not only stamina and strength but also extreme precision. The labourers must be sure not to cut the ice too quickly and break through to the water below.

If they do, the carved dugout can be submerged and the work is lost. The colder the weather, the better the ice freezes and the smoother the job, although the temperatures are hard on some workers.

"Sometimes, when you freeze, you feel negative emotions from it," 22-year-old Artyom Kovalec said from under a thick layer of coats, a pickaxe in his mittened hands. "You feel it's too cold to work, you want to go home, to eat and relax, so you have to get a grip on yourself."

(With Reuters inputs)

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