Man-made clearing in the forest?

[Manti]

This photo is from Yakimenko's archive,

Группы Согрина; Потапова; Авенбурга. Формально руководит Чернышев.

Все фотографии из архива В.Г.Якименко (кроме 3S-48 - 3S-53 - из архива П.И.Бартоломея)

Taken from the air on the way to the pass. This clearing looks way too rectangular to be natural. Was there a runway there, long abandoned? It can't be recent because of the trees growing in the center.

I can only imagine the need for this clearing in case there was a military base of some sort there... Logging or mining operations would have road or rail links.

[sarapuk]

The lines do look too straight to be natural. But there are straight lines in nature.

[KFinn]

This photo is from Yakimenko's archive,

Группы Согрина; Потапова; Авенбурга. Формально руководит Чернышев.

Все фотографии из архива В.Г.Якименко (кроме 3S-48 - 3S-53 - из архива П.И.Бартоломея)

Taken from the air on the way to the pass. This clearing looks way too rectangular to be natural. Was there a runway there, long abandoned? It can't be recent because of the trees growing in the center.

I can only imagine the need for this clearing in case there was a military base of some sort there... Logging or mining operations would have road or rail links.

Could it be the area the searchers had to clear for planes (which wound up being too small and was unused?)