Design Alaska was the project surveyor for a new gold mine in Far Eastern Russia named Kupol (66°47’51”N, 169°32’41”E.) Over a three year period, we established primary site survey control, performed the topographic surveys for site development, positioned the geotechnical exploration borings, and performed the construction staking for the roads and facilities. The government wouldn’t allow us to use GPS, everything was surveyed conventionally. While we were there, the remote site was only accessible by helicopter and winter cat trains. Our final task before handing the site over to local surveyors was to slope stake over a mountain and through a valley for construction of a new airstrip large enough to land a Tupolev airliner.