If you have ever poured over maps of the higher latitudes in search of new surf breaks, you probably have noticed the countless curves and bends in the region’s coastlines that hint at an astonishing array of point breaks. These mountainous fingers jutting out to sea are commonly known as fjords. Most fjords are found beginning around 60°N and 45°S.

In these colder regions, lots of ice forms and landscapes become heavily glaciated. It appears as if these glaciers carved out narrow, “U” shaped valleys as gravity pulled the ice down toward sea level. These twists and turns in the coast look promising for wave discovery, but the reality is not as ideal as one might hope.

Fjords can be extremely deep, which means there is no shallow sea floor for waves to gain traction. Waves break in a water depth that is about 1.3 times the height of the wave, depending on the bathymetry of the sea floor. A steepness of 1:12 is an approximate slope ratio for a barreling wave. As the steepness of the slope increases, the wave doesn’t break at all. Instead, it surges up against the shore, or in our case a cliff, and explodes. Its energy dissipates into deeper water. That’s not very useful for finding peeling point breaks. But the opportunity for surfable waves in these regions still exists.

The arctic wave explorer should consider other geological contributors to shallow sea floor transitions. Who are these contributors? Look for river-mouths, who continually push sand outward and deposit it along the coast. Glaciers sitting at higher elevations melt as they approach sea level, and the resulting melt-water drains through a flood plain and out to sea, taking rocks and sediment with it.

Another feature to consider is the abrupt rock ledge located just below the water’s surface. This shallow fist breaks incoming lines into slabbing barrels and is commonly found in steep coastal terrain. And in general, make sure the coastline in question is open to swell, so that waves can sneak in and find an optimal place to break before their energy is lost.

Once you have found a potential fjord with waves, the next question will be how to get there. Many countries with fjords have well-kept scenic roads that zag into deep valleys and traverse through mountain tunnels, while other regions are only accessible by boat or kayak. But if you find waves in a difficult-to-access region, chances are you will have it all to yourself.

Offshore winds sweep across a subantarctic beach.

Low visibility at a remote point break.

A wind swell arrives on a Baltic coastline.

A walkway through the ice.

A drawing depicting a coldwater shark.

Various shelf and reef setups in the subantarctic. The mass of gray in the bottom left corner is a giant penguin colony.

Two people run to escape a stormy afternoon.

Two surfers discover an ice-cold rivermouth sandbar.

Crags, fogs, and cliffs.

More offshore winds in the subantarctic.

The photo above shows another angle on the wave seen in the ‘End of the World’ clip. The question is, is this break actually ‘in the middle of nowhere’?

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Our boat plowed through glassy water. Three waves peeled along a sand-bottom point. The beach was empty. The waves were groomed. The sky was low and cold. A nice breeze was blowing onto the face of the waves, but the break was bogged down by a steeply climbing tide. We were on the Alaskan coast, near the community of Yakutat.

In the afternoon we checked the outer beaches. The breaks here worked better on a high tide. The surf was larger. We followed a gravel road around the rim of a lagoon and into a forest. The trees were tall, thin, and they looked very old. They formed a tunnel around the road. Our van emerged into a clearing.

Below, large boulders sat in the sand. The beach terminated at the water line. The sea floor was blanketed by boulders. Hollow and peaky waves were breaking close to shore. The surface of the water was dead calm.

We opted to look at another wave further down the road. It was a lefthand head-high-on-the-sets bolder-bottom pointbreak. The boulders were slick, and they were clumsy to crawl over. I paddled out with a local. We sat on the peak and took turns catching roping lefts.

As I sat outside waiting for the next set I looked at the massive white mountain range across the bay. One of the prominent peaks in the range, Mt. Saint Elias, is one of the tallest peaks in the United States.

No roads lead here. The Yakutat community is only accessible by boat or plane. The population reaches a little over 4,000, but by area it’s the largest city in the United States.

Fall and spring swells arrive from turbulent Aleutian storms. The weather in Yakutat is unpredictable and tide swings are dramatic. While it can be difficult to find good conditions that stick around for awhile, bad weather can just as suddenly turn to sunny skies and calm wind. If the swell is too large on the outer beaches and the wind is wrong, there’s a chance that waves are wrapping around the cape into an offshore breeze and peeling for over 200 yards.