Bolshaya Suka Ridge

Bolshaya Suka is a 27-kilometre ridge in the Southern Urals between the Malaya Satka and Yuryuzan rivers, partly inside Zyuratkul National Park. Elevations exceed a thousand metres almost along its whole length, with the highest point at 1,194.8 metres. The ridge ends in the north with a vast plateau; along its length run rocks, cliffs and stone drops. The geological history is deep: the rocks formed in the Proterozoic, Cambrian and Silurian, and together with the Moskal, Zyuratkul and Magnitny ridges, Suka forms a single tectonic anticlinorium about 50 kilometres long. The name is most often explained from the Bashkir 'suuk' — 'cold'; Pallas in the 18th century recorded the variants Suka and Sukatau. Its neighbours are the Bolshoy and Maly Uvan mountains to the south-east and Zigalga beyond the Yuryuzan in the south. Hikers value Suka for delivering the 'alpine' look of the Southern Urals — stone crests and panoramas — with a relatively modest elevation gain and starts from the Satka-district roads.