Khibiny Mountains

The Khibiny are the largest mountain massif of the Kola Peninsula, covering 1,300 square kilometres, with a geological age of about 390 million years. The highest point is Yudychvumchorr at 1,200.6 metres, with Chasnachorr (1,189.6) and Lyavochorr (1,187) nearby. At the foot lie the towns of Apatity and Kirovsk, reached by the Murmansk railway under construction since 1914. The massif is a world mineralogical capital: about 500 minerals have been discovered here, 110 of them endemic; the largest apatite-nepheline deposits gave the town of Apatity its name. Here too are the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden by Mount Vudyavchorr and four small glaciers. In 2018 the Khibiny received national park status — the outcome of years of environmental campaigning against new mines. For visitors there are 42 alpine routes from grade 1B to 5B, Kirovsk's ski slopes (taken here as a natural massif, not a resort), and the lakes Bolshoy Vudyavr and Goltsovoye.