Lake Baikal is the largest fresh water reservoir on the planet. It formed in a giant rift valley zone, which cuts through the Earth’s lithosphere and continues to its mantle. According to various sources, Lake Baikal is between 25 and 30 million years old. It is also considered to be a developing ocean. More than 300 rivers flow into Lake Baikal while only one - the Angara, which doesn’t freeze even during the most severe of winters - flows out. During the cold season ice on Lake Baikal can become up to 1.5 – sometimes even 2 meters thick. Even when such is the case, the lake still manages to “breathe” all winter long through cracks in the ice. These cracks, depending on the weather, can both narrow and widen. In the winter impressive ice monuments form on the banks of the lake, while during the warmer seasons the lake amazes travelers with its changeable weather as wind can abruptly begin to blow and a storm start, and then stop just as quickly as it began. Lake Baikal’s strength and beauty are immeasurable. Anyone lucky enough to see the unique body of water even just once will remember it in its own special way. Rain or shine, winter or summer…