Hvoynati Vrah ( bg, Хвойнати връх, meaning Juniper Peak) is a 2,635 m high peak in the

Pirin , photo=Pirin-mountains-Bansko.jpg , photo_caption=Pirin scenery in winter , country= Bulgaria, , parent= , geology= granite, gneiss, marble, limestone , area_km2=2585 , range_coordinates = , length_km=80 , length_orientation= north-s ...

mountain range, south-western

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. It is situated on the main mountain ridge between the summits of

Vihren Vihren ( ) is the highest peak of Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains. Reaching , it is Bulgaria's second and the Balkans' third highest, after Musala and Mount Olympus. Although due to the karst topography Vihren is deprived of lakes and streams, a numb ...

(2,914 m) and Muratov Vrah (2,669 m). It is built up of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. Hvoynati Vrah is domed shape, with an extensive grassy cover around the top elevation. To the south, the sharp pointy saddle Vlahinski pass connects it with Muratov Vrah. This saddle separates the Vlahinski Cirque to the northwest from the Banderishki Cirque to the southeast and forms the most accessible connection between them. To the north the saddle Kabata leads to Vihren, the highest summit in the mountain range. At Kabata the granite rocks of Hvoynati Vrah give way to the marble rocks in the direction of Vihren. The western slopes of Hvoynati vrach towards the

Vlahini Lakes The Vlahini Lakes () is a group of six lakes, five of which are permanent, in the Pirin mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, 1.5 km to the southwest from Vihren. The lakes are named after the village of Vlahi, located at a lower altitude ...

are steep, grassy and difficult to access. To the east, the slopes are covered with dwarf mountain pine; in places they are rocky and furrowed with deep gullies that reach all the way to the bed of the river Banderitsa. To the northeast towards Kabata, the slopes are heavily eroded, in places with rock blockages, screes and rockfalls. In winter, there is a significant risk of avalanches along the eastern and northeastern slopes. There are no marked tourist trails through Hvoynati Vrah. However, the peak is easily accessible from the Kabata or Vlachinski pass by paths marked with stone cairns.

Citations

References

* {{cite book , ref={{harvid, Dushkov, 1972 , title = Пирин. Туристически речник , trans-title = Pirin. Tourist Dictionary , last1 = Душков (Dushkov) , first1 = Добри (Dobri) , year = 1972 , language = Bulgarian , publisher = Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura) , location = София (

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

) , isbn = Mountains of Pirin Landforms of Blagoevgrad Province Two-thousanders of Bulgaria