Russian woman who went viral for frozen eyelashes completes 100,000-step walk at -40°C

A woman from Yakutia in Russia, previously known for viral images capturing the region’s extreme climate, has once again drawn global attention, this time for completing an extraordinary endurance challenge in sub-zero temperatures. The woman, known as Anastasia Gruzdeva, first went viral in January 2018 after posting a photo of her eyelashes frozen solid and coated in frost during severe winter conditions. Months later, she resurfaced online with another striking image showing mosquitoes covering her face and chest as she stood in a flower-filled field, highlighting the dramatic seasonal contrasts of life in Siberia.

Now, she has reached another milestone that has once again captured the internet’s attention. Braving Yakutia’s brutal winter, the woman documented an extraordinary long-distance walking challenge through the streets of Yakutsk, where temperatures plunged to around minus 40 degrees Celsius.

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A post shared by Anastasia Gruzdeva (@anastasiagav)

According to her Instagram post, the challenge was planned in stages, with the aim of completing 100,000 steps in a single day. What began calmly soon turned into a test of endurance, both physical and mental. After crossing the 30-kilometre mark, she showed no signs of slowing down, continuing steadily despite the extreme cold and mounting fatigue.

Hours into the walk, she took brief breaks to recover and refuel, pushing past 40,000 and then 49,000 steps. At one point, while trying to warm her clothing, she accidentally melted the zipper of her suit, forcing her to rely on a spare before continuing. By the 12-hour mark, she had already logged 64,000 steps, covering a distance far beyond anything she had attempted before.

She also revealed that she had considered switching indoors if conditions became unmanageable but chose to stay outdoors as momentum carried her forward. Even as strain set in her lower back aching and her knees beginning to protest, she continued moving, kilometre by kilometre, through the frozen city.

By the time she crossed 80,000 steps, she knew she would finish the challenge outside. As exhaustion deepened, distances that once seemed daunting began to feel smaller. She reflected on the experience, writing, “After you do this from scratch, and when you cross the 90,000 step mark, 7,000 steps feels like just taking one step.”

Near the end, a brief technical glitch caused her step counter to freeze, but she remained confident the target had been reached. Looking back on the day-long effort, she described a mix of emotions, saying, “This is the route I walked all day. It was both joyful and a bit sad that it all ended.”

The feat has added to her reputation as a striking chronicler of life in extreme climates, coming at a time when Yakutia, often described as one of the coldest inhabited regions on Earth, is again drawing attention for its severe winter conditions.