Russia Sobolev Alexander · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cut
683 metres, to scale.
A slice through Sulak Canyon where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Great Pyramid · 139 m · Empire State · 443 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.
683m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
3.8km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
39°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
156m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
5 °C warmer at the bottom.
In July the afternoon reaches 32 °C on the floor, against 27 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are in April and in October. The rim freezes at night from December to March. The wettest months are in May.
- 6°0°Jan
- 8°2°Feb
- 13°7°Mar
- 18°13°Apr
- 25°19°May
- 30°24°Jun
- 32°27°Jul
- 32°27°Aug
- 26°21°Sep
- 20°14°Oct
- 13°7°Nov
- 8°2°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Canyon in Dagestan, Russia
Sulak Canyon is a canyon in Russia, cut by the Sulak river. The relief model measures 683 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 819 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 3.8 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Dubkinearest town · 1.5 km in a straight line
- Parking 950 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- качелиnearest viewpoint · 0.2 km from the floor
- Makhachkala Uytash International Airport (MCX)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 70 km in a straight lineCar hire at TBS airport (Tbilisi)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- In April and in Octoberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The river
The Sulak runs highest from March to June.
The Sulak carries about 81 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from March to June.
- 25 m³/sJan
- 73 m³/sFeb
- 192 m³/sMar
- 275 m³/sApr
- 286 m³/sMay
- 195 m³/sJun
- 73 m³/sJul
- 5.8 m³/sAug
- 16 m³/sSep
- 71 m³/sOct
- 73 m³/sNov
- 16 m³/sDec
From about 5.8 m³/s in the lowest month to 286 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 12,892 km².
The Sulak from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 22viewpoints within 5 kmСмотровая площадка, Вид на Чиркейскую ГЭС, Вид на каньон со скалы and 19 more
- 1footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km
- 3car parks within 3 km
- 12campsites within 8 kmпляж, Дубовая роща, кемпинг and 9 more
- 11hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmДубовая роща, Каньон, Гостевой дом and 8 more
- 10restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- marked hiking routes within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- caves within 3 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- bus stops within 2 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Dubki1.5 km in a straight line
- Miatli8.0 km in a straight line
- Chirkey13 km in a straight line
- Burtunay16 km in a straight line
- Dylym17 km in a straight line
- Bavtugay18 km in a straight line
- Zubutli-Miatli22 km in a straight line
- Kizilyurt22 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Sulak Canyon.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Riveryas2 rivers in the canyon
Peakyas12 mountains within 15 km
Lakeyas2 lakes within 15 kmComing soonFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 6 | 8 | 13 | 18 | 25 | 30 | 32 | 32 | 26 | 20 | 13 | 8 |
| Afternoon · rim | 0 | 2 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Night · rim | -7 | -7 | -3 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 4 | -2 | -5 |
| Rain (mm) | 30 | 27 | 27 | 34 | 47 | 44 | 35 | 36 | 38 | 41 | 34 | 30 |
| Rainy days | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.2 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 6.3 | 7.8 | 9.4 | 9.3 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 4.5 | 2.7 | 2.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 17 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 15 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | 0 | -7 | 30 | 2.2 |
| Feb | 8 | 2 | -7 | 27 | 3.3 |
| Mar | 13 | 7 | -3 | 27 | 4.3 |
| Apr | 18 | 13 | 2 | 34 | 6.3 |
| May | 25 | 19 | 8 | 47 | 7.8 |
| Jun | 30 | 24 | 13 | 44 | 9.4 |
| Jul | 32 | 27 | 15 | 35 | 9.3 |
| Aug | 32 | 27 | 15 | 36 | 9.0 |
| Sep | 26 | 21 | 10 | 38 | 7.0 |
| Oct | 20 | 14 | 4 | 41 | 4.5 |
| Nov | 13 | 7 | -2 | 34 | 2.7 |
| Dec | 8 | 2 | -5 | 30 | 2.1 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (156 m) and the rim (975 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 68% | 85% | 49% | 67% | 172% | 82% | 133% | 189% | 61% | 11% | 169% | 209% |
| 2021 | 48% | 86% | 95% | 57% | 120% | 123% | 163% | 975% | 264% | 156% | 42% | 67% |
| 2022 | 35% | 46% | 149% | 64% | 199% | 114% | 89% | 44% | 59% | 111% | 95% | 51% |
| 2023 | 60% | 77% | 48% | 113% | 103% | 238% | 137% | 59% | 128% | 53% | 104% | 185% |
| 2024 | 44% | 108% | 183% | 48% | 123% | 314% | 112% | 85% | 118% | 93% | 104% | 141% |
| 2025 | 48% | 101% | 99% | 225% | 81% | 108% | 90% | 71% | 413% | 83% | 14% | 122% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Sulak Canyon
Russia
- 683 mDepth
- 3.8 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 39°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q48945066) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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islands
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.You are here