Edward Adrian-Vallance studied French and Spanish at the University of Exeter in the UK. After graduating with a 2.1 he moved to Russia in 2007 and began learning Russian.

As a keen traveller, he began exploring Siberia, the Arctic and the Far East in 2008. He has visited all of Russia's Arctic regions and most Far Eastern and Siberian ones. He first began guiding trips to Siberia in 2011 and to Yakutia in 2013.

Shortly afterwards, Edward met his wife-to-be Ekaterina while she was studying in Moscow. Ekaterina is a member of the Yakut indigenous people from Yakutia. Together they came up with the idea for Travel Yakutia. The aim was to provide truly unique adventures in parts of Yakutia that other tour operators had so far neglected. This of course led to a focus on the republic's remote Arctic districts, their wildlife and the culture of their indigenous people.

Edward now has dual Russian and British citizenship and is based in Moscow. However, he spends up to six months a year in Siberia, mostly on the Yamal Peninsula and in Yakutia. He is considered a local in many areas. He has contacts on every level of society, from nomads to government officials. His contacts and experience have led to great success running the most complex trips in this remote area.

Ekaterina was born in Yakutia, the coldest inhabited part of the world. She is a member of the Yakut indigenous people, who have their own completely separate language, culture and religious beliefs. She probably has more experience than anyone of the freezing cold temperatures that Yakutian winter travel involves.

Yakutia is a Russian republic the size of India but with a population of only 1 million. Of this, 350,000 live in the capital Yakutsk. The rest of the republic is sparsely inhabited wilderness. It was in a small, isolated wilderness village that Ekaterina was born.

Upon completing school, Ekaterina won a scholarship to study for free at the Arctic State Institute of Arts and Culture. After graduation, she moved to Moscow for her postgraduate studies. There she met her husband-to-be, Edward Adrian-Vallance. Not long after their marriage, Ekaterina began working as manager of Edward's company, Argish LLC.

Ekaterina's upbringing gave her an excellent understanding of the hardships and rewards of Siberian travel. She also has extensive experience of international travel on six continents. Ekaterina provides our team, our clients and our partners with indispensable support throughout our tours.

Ekaterina has a deep understanding of the very different mentalities of Siberians and foreign travellers. Bringing them together so that everyone fulfils their goals is what makes a successful Siberian tour operator. In this, as in so much else, Ekaterina is an invaluable member of the Argish LLC team.