Kutelo ( ) is a summit 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, southwestern

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 ...

. With a height of 2,908 m it is the second highest peak in Pirin after

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 numbe ...

(2,914 m), and the third one in Bulgaria, behind

Musala Musala ( bg, Мусала ); from Arabic language, Arabic through Ottoman Turkish language, Ottoman Turkish: from ''Musalla'', "near God" or "place for prayer" is the highest mountain, peak in the Rila, Rila Mountains, as well as in Bulgaria and ...

(2,925 m) in

Rila Rila ( bg, Рила, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Mus ...

and Vihren. Kutelo is a double peak with a small saddle between the two parts, the lower being only one meter below the higher one, at 2,907 m. Seen from the town of

Bansko Bansko ( bg, Банско ) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, located at the foot of the Pirin, Pirin Mountains at an elevation of 1200m AMSL, above sea level. It is a ski resort. Legends There are several legends about who founded Bansko. Ac ...

it appears higher than Vihren. Like Vihren, which towers to the south, Kutelo is built up of marble but its slopes though sheer are not so rocky and it is not very difficult to climb. On the north-eastern slopes there are alpine climbing tracks of category II "b". The Premkata saddle is situated to the south and leads to Vihren while to the north is the narrow karst edge

Koncheto Koncheto ( , ) is a name given to a knife-edge ridge in the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria, at an elevation of approximately 2,810 metres, between the peaks Banski Suhodol (2,884 meters) and Kutelo (2,908 metres). There are steep slopes on either ...

which links Kutelo to the summit of

Banski Suhodol Banski Suhodol ( bg, Бански Суходол ) is a peak in the Pirin mountain, south-western Bulgaria. It is located in the northern part of Pirin on the main ridge. Its height is 2,884 m which ranks it on third place in Pirin after Vihren ( ...

. There are no marked tracks to the summit of Kutelo, but on the slanting western slope among the rocks is nestled the track between the Vihren refuge and Yavorov refuge. This track also leads along Koncheto. In the homonymous waterless cirque to the north-east there are snow-drifts all the year. To the south-east is the cirque

Golemiya Kazan Golemiya Kazan ( bg, Големия казан) is one of the two cirques that form an area called ''Kazanite'' (the Cauldrons), situated in Bulgaria's Pirin mountain range. ''Kazanite'' are located below the two highest summits Vihren (2,914 ...

with Europe's southernmost

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

Snezhnika Snezhnika ( bg, Снежника 'the snow patch') is a glacieret in the Pirin Mountains of Bulgaria, a remnant of the former Vihren Glacier.Grunewald, p. 129. The glacieret lies at an elevation between and in the deep Golemiya Kazan cirque at th ...

. Pirin's second glacierlet,

Banski Suhodol Glacier The Banski Suhodol Glacier ( bg, Ледника в Бански Суходол, ''Lednika v Banski Suhodol'') is a small glacier (glacieret) in the Pirin Mountains of Bulgaria. It lies below the Kutelo peak (2908 m.) in the upper Banski Suhodol V ...

, is situated below the northern face of Kutelo. Kutelo is home to

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Ril ...

and on its slopes grow edelweiss (''

Leontopodium nivale ''Leontopodium nivale'', commonly called edelweiss (german: Alpen-Edelweiß, English pronunciation ), is a mountain flower belonging to the daisy or sunflower family Asteraceae. The plant prefers rocky limestone places at about altitude. It is ...

'') and a number of other rare herbaceous plants.

Citations

References

* * * {{cite journal , ref={{harvid, Grunewald, 2010 , last=Grunewald , first=Karsten , author2=Jörg Scheithauer , date=2010 , title=Europe’s southernmost glaciers: response and adaptation to climate change , journal=Journal of Glaciology , publisher=

International Glaciological Society The International Glaciological Society (IGS) was founded in 1936 to provide a focus for individuals interested in glaciology, practical and scientific aspects of snow and ice. It was originally known as the "Association for the Study of Snow an ...

, volume=56 , pages=129–142 , issn=0022-1430 , url=http://www.igsoc.org:8080/journal/56/195/j09j048.pdf , accessdate=6 March 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402112432/http://www.igsoc.org:8080/journal/56/195/j09j048.pdf , archive-date=2 April 2015 , url-status=dead Mountains of Pirin Landforms of Blagoevgrad Province Two-thousanders of Bulgaria