The Sochi 2014 Olympic flame will travel to Russias most symbolic places from the North Pole to Baikal and Elbrus. In October 2013 it will be taken by nuclear icebreaker to the North Pole for the torch lighting ceremony, then the relay will continue underwater on Baikal and atop Elbrus.

The North Pole will become one of the key points along the route of the Olympic Relay. In October 2013, the Rosatomflot nuclear icebreaker “50 Years of Victory” will deliver the Flame from Murmansk to the North Pole and back to Murmansk. The total length of the route will be about 5,000 kilometers.
All the way to the North Pole, the Olympic Flame will travel in a special Olympic Flame Lampada. A torch-lighting ceremony will take place at the North Pole, and the relay itself will include torchbearers from Russia and the countries of the Arctic Council—people who play an important role in the study and preservation of the Arctic. The torchbearers will cover the symbolic distance aboard the icebreaker and on an ice floe, and then light the Sochi 2014 Olympic Flame Cauldron.
In November 2013, the Olympic Flame will descend to the bottom of the world’s deepest lake—Baikal. The special Baikal project will begin with a theatrical welcome of the Olympic Flame at the Taltsy National Museum. After that, diver torchbearers will descend into Baikal with the lit torch. Underwater, the traditional handoff of the Flame will take place, as at any other stage. A commemorative plaque for the Sochi 2014 Relay is planned to be installed at the lake.
And in early February, the culmination of the Sochi 2014 Relay journey will be Mount Elbrus. Experienced climbers have been chosen for this honorable mission: Karina Mezova, who has more than 130 ascents of Mount Elbrus to her credit, and Abdul-Khalim Elmezov, president of the Mountaineering Federation of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. The torchbearers will carry the Olympic Flame to the summit of Elbrus, and at an altitude of 5,642 meters above sea level, the Olympic Flame Cauldron will be ceremonially lit. To conclude the descent from Elbrus, a special light and projection show and a performance by extreme sports athletes will take place on the ski slope in the Azau Valley.
Based on materials from the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Irkutsk Region