Pindus Mountains

Pindus Mountains, principal range and backbone of mainland Greece, trending north-northwest–south-southeast from Albania to central Greece north of the Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopónnisos).

In antiquity, the name Pindus applied to ranges south of the Aracynthus (Zygós) Pass west of Thessaly (Thessalía). Occasionally the Pindus is said to extend into Albania but also to include the Tymphrestos (Timfristós) massif and even the Gióna massif north of Amphissa in the nomós (department) of Phocis (Fokída). The highest point of the range is 8,651 feet (2,637 metres) in the Smólikas massif, near the Albanian border.

An extension of the calcareous Dinaric range of the Balkans, the core of the Pindus appears to comprise metamorphic and volcanic rocks: schists, serpentines, granite, and jasper. The northern parts, less elevated, have folded Balkan characteristics. Lacking uniformity, the Pindus consists largely of a series of small ranges separated by transverse valleys eroded from limestones that on the eastern slopes often are overlain by geologically younger sandy and marl deposits. The result is often wild, precipitous slopes that afford few passes; the principal one is the Métsovo (Katára pass; 5,593 feet [1,705 metres]), a historic defile that carries the highway from the Epirus (Ípeiros) to Thessaly.

The southern limits of the Pindus are generally considered to be the Tymphrestos Mountains northeast of Karpenísion. From the Albanian border, the local massifs are the Grámmos and Vóïon, Tímfi, Smolikas, Lingos, Lákmos (the latter rising at Peristéri to 7,529 feet [2,295 metres]), and the Athamánon, between the Árachthos and Achelous rivers, rising at Tzoumérka to 8,100 feet (2,469 metres).

Forested with oak, fir, beech, and pine, the Pindus creates a barrier for the westerly weather fronts, which puts the Thessalian plain to the east in a rain shadow. The mountains, snowcapped in winter, receive heavy rainfall that feeds such rivers as the Achelous and Mégdhova on the western slopes and the Pineiós and Aliákmon on the eastern.