I took this image of these sastrugi ridges and stunted spruce trees in the taiga on a recent journey up the Chilkat Summit. “Sastrugi” and “taiga” are a couple of Russian words that have made it into English lexicon. It is not surprising these two words describe natural features commonly seen in Alaska, since Alaska was once “Russian America.”
The word “sastrugi” is derived from the Russian word for “small ridge” or “furrow.” Sastrugi are wind-formed features in the snow. The word “taiga” comes from the Russian meaning “land on little sticks.” This is an appropriate description of the northern forests where the climate is extreme and the temperatures and amount of snow stunt the growth of the trees.
I love the Chilkat Summit for photography and get up there as often as I can. It is not uncommon to travel along the road for hours without seeing another vehicle. I especially enjoy exploring the area on skis. After a wind event, the sastrugi ridges make skiing extremely difficult. So it is critical to time the ski trip after a nice snowfall but before the winds start to blow. When skiing is a challenge, I stay close to my vehicle and use the sastrugi ridges as a compositional element for nature photography.