Mount Smolikas ( el, Σμόλικας; rup, Smolcu) is a mountain in the Ioannina regional unit, northwestern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. At a height of 2,637 metres above sea level, it is the highest of the

Pindus Mountains The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; el, Πίνδος, Píndos; sq, Pindet; rup, Pindu) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km (100 miles) long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 metr ...

, and the second highest mountain in Greece after

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...

. The mountain consists of

ophiolite An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is found i ...

rocks. During several periods in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

the northern and eastern cirques and valleys were glaciated. The last

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 ...

s of this area retreated around 11,500 years ago. It is drained by the river

Vjosa The Vjosa (; indefinite form: ) or Aoös ( el, Αώος) is a river in northwestern Greece and southwestern Albania. Its total length is about , of which the first are in Greece, and the remaining in Albania. Its drainage basin is and its ave ...

to the south, and the river Vourkopotamo (a tributary of the Sarantaporos) to the north. There is a small alpine lake called "

Drakolimni Drakolimni ( el, Δρακολίμνη, "Dragon Lake") is the name of several alpine or sub-alpine lakes in northwestern Greece Epirus region: the ones in mountain Tymfi and Smolikas are the most widely known. According to local folktales the l ...

Smolika" near the summit, at about 2,200 metres elevation. Nearby mountain ranges are

Tymfi Tymphe (in Latin and English usage) or Tymfi (in the Greek government's preferred transliteration), Timfi, also Tymphi (, ) is a mountain in the northern Pindus mountain range, northwestern Greece. It is part of the regional unit of Ioannina and ...

to the south,

Gramos Gramos ( sq, Gramoz, Mali i Gramozit; rup, Gramosta, Gramusta; el, Γράμος or Γράμμος) is a mountain range on the border of Albania and Greece. The mountain is part of the northern Pindus mountain range. Its highest peak, at the ...

to the northwest,

Vasilitsa Vasilitsa is a ski resort in Greece. The ski center is located in the middle of Pindos (40.033N, 21.083E), approximately 42km away from Grevena and 417km from Athens. The ski resorts currently has five lifts and 16 ski trails. The summit of the res ...

to the southeast and

Voio Voio ( el, Βόιο, ''Vóio''; grc, Βόιον - ''Boeon'') is a mountain range in the southwestern Kastoria and western Kozani regional units in Greece. The mountain is part of the Pindus mountains. Its highest elevation is 1,805 m. It is a d ...

to the northeast. D70-0745-armata-waterzaagmolen

The higher elevations, above 2,000 metres, consist of grasslands and rocks, and there are deciduous and conifer forests at lower elevations. The mountain lies completely within the municipality of

Konitsa Konitsa ( el, Κόνιτσα; see also names in other languages) is a town of Ioannina in Epirus, Greece. It is located north of the capital Ioannina and near the Albanian border. Northeast of Konitsa lies a group of villages known as the Zagoro ...

, the main villages around the mountain being

Agia Paraskevi Agia Paraskevi ( el, Αγία Παρασκευή, ''Agía Paraskeví'') is a suburb and a municipality in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is part of the North Athens regional unit. Agia Paraskevi was named after the ...

to the north, and Palaioselli,

Pades PAdES (''PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures'') is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1 making it suitable for advanced electronic signatures. This is published by ETSI as EN 319 142. Description While PDF and ISO 32000-1 ...

and Armata to the south. The town Konitsa lies 15 km southwest of Smolikas. The

Greek National Road 20 National Road 20 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 20, abbreviated as EO20) is a single carriageway road in northwestern Greece. It links the cities of Ioannina and Kozani via Konitsa and Siatista. It passes through the Ioannina, Kastoria and the Koza ...

(

Kozani Kozani ( el, Κοζάνη, ) is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmona ...

Siatista Siatista ( el, Σιάτιστα) is a town and a former municipality in Kozani regional unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Voio, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It ...

- Konitsa -

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

) passes west of the mountain.

References

External links

Greek Mountain Flora

"Smólikas Óros, Greece" on Peakbagger
Two-thousanders of Greece Landforms of Ioannina (regional unit) Mountains of Epirus (region) Pindus Natura 2000 in Greece {{Epirus-geo-stub