Pirdop Gate (Pirdopska Porta \pir-'dop-ska 'por-ta\) is a 300-m wide pass between

Maritsa Peak Maritsa Peak ( bg, връх Марица, vrah Maritsa, ) rises to 560 m in eastern Bowles Ridge on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It has precipitous rocky south slopes, and is situated on the west side of Pirdop Ga ...

and

Atanasoff Nunatak Atanasoff Nunatak (Atanasov Nunatak \a-ta-'na-sov 'nu-na-tak\) is a nunatak, a sharp peak rising to in the east extremity of Bowles Ridge, Livingston Island, Antarctica. The peak surmounts Huron Glacier to the south and east, and Struma Glacie ...

in eastern

Bowles Ridge Bowles Ridge ( bg, хребет Боулс, hrebet Bouls, ) is the central ridge of eastern Livingston Island. The ridge extends 6.5 km in the east-west direction and is 1.5 km wide. The summit of the ridge is Mount Bowles which ris ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. It has an elevation of 376 m at its northern entrance from Struma Glacier, and 261 m at the southern entrance from

Huron Glacier Huron Glacier is a } long and wide glacial flow on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, situated east of Perunika Glacier, southeast of Kaliakra Glacier, south of Struma Glacier, west-northwest of Iskar Glacier and n ...

. It forms part of an overland route between middle

and upper

Kaliakra Glacier Kaliakra Glacier ( bg, ледник Калиакра, lednik Kaliakra, ) is a glacier in northeastern Livingston Island, Antarctica extending in east-west direction and in north-south direction, and situated southeast of Saedinenie Snowfield, ...

. The pass was first crossed by the Bulgarians Lyubomir Ivanov and

Doychin Vasilev Doychin Vasilev ( bg, Дойчин Василев, born 12 June 1944 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian alpinist and cinematographer who has climbed five Himalayan 8,000 m peaks: Dhaulagiri (in 1995), Mount Everest (1997), Makalu (1998), and Shishap ...

from Camp Academia on 28 December 2004. Named after the town of

Pirdop Pirdop ( bg, Пирдоп ) is a town located in South-West Bulgaria in Pirdop Municipality of Sofia Province in the southeastern part of the Zlatitsa - Pirdop Valley at 670 m above sea level. It is surrounded by the Balkan Range (also known a ...

in Central

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 Macedo ...

Location

The pass is located at , which is 6.82 km east-northeast of

Orpheus Gate Orpheus Gate (Orfeeva Porta \or-'fe-e-va 'por-ta\), also ''Orpheus Pass'', is the 548 m high and 380 m wide pass in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, bounded by Pliska Ridge to the southeast and Burdick Ridge to ...

, 3.25 km east of Omurtag Pass, 2.16 km southeast of

Yankov Gap Yankov Gap (Yankova Sedlovina \'yan-ko-va se-dlo-vi-'na\) is an ice-covered saddle linking Melnik Ridge and Bowles Ridge in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The gap is at an elevation of 575 m and extends 1& ...

, 5.86 km northwest of Karnobat Pass and 3.44 km north-northeast of

Lozen Saddle Lozen Saddle (Lozenska Sedlovina \'lo-zen-ska se-dlo-vi-'na\) is a 437 m high saddle situated between Lozen Nunatak and Zograf Peak in Tangra Mountains, eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica which provides overland ...

(Bulgarian topographic survey

Tangra 2004/05 The Tangra 2004/05 Expedition was commissioned by the Antarctic Place-names Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, managed by the Manfred Wörner Foundation, and supported by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, the In ...

, and mapping in 2005 and 2009).

Maps

* L.L. Ivanov et al. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands. Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Sofia: Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, 2005. * L.L. Ivanov
Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands
Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2009.

References

Pirdop Gate.
SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer.
Antarctic Place-names Commission. (details in Bulgarian
basic data
in English)

External links

Pirdop Gate.
Copernix satellite image Mountain passes of Livingston Island {{LivingstonIsland-geo-stub