Greater Caucasus

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Greater Caucasus
Range
Mountainous landscape of Arkhyz
Countries	Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan
Part of	Caucasus Mountains
Borders on	Lesser Caucasus
Highest point	Mount Elbrus
- elevation	5,642 m (18,510 ft)
- coordinates	43°21′18″N 42°26′31″E / 43.355, 42.44194
Length	1,200 km (746 mi)
Satellite image

Greater Caucasus (Russian: Большой Кавказ, Azerbaijani: Böyük Qafqaz Dağları), sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of Caucasus Mountains.

It stretches for about 1200 km from West-North-West to East-South-East, between the Taman Peninsula of the Black Sea to the Absheron Peninsula of the Caspian Sea: from the Caucasian Natural Reserve in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian.

The range is traditionally separated into three parts:

• Western Caucasus, from the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus
• Central Caucasus, from Mount Elbrus to Mount Kazbek
• Eastern Caucasus, from Mount Kazbek to the Caspian Sea

The border of Russia with Georgia and Azerbaijan runs along the most of its length. The Georgian Military Road (Darial Gorge), Ossetian Military Road, and Trans-Caucasus Highway traverse this mountain range at an altitudes of up to 3,000 meters.

[edit] Peaks

• Mount Elbrus, 5642 m, 43°21′18″N 42°26′21″E / 43.355, 42.43917 (Mount Elbrus) is the highest mountain in Europe.
• Dykh-Tau, 5205 m, 43°3′N 43°8′E / 43.05, 43.133 (Dykh-Tau)
• Koshtan-Tau, 5151 m, 43°05′N 43°2167′E / 43.083, 79.117 (Koshtan-Tau)
• Mount Gistola, 4859 m, 43.05° N 42.99° E
• Shkhara, 5201 m, 43°01′N 43°10′E / 43.01, 43.17 (Shkhara)
• Kazbek, 5047 m, 42°45′N 44°33′E / 42.75, 44.55 (Kazbek)
• Tebulosmta, 4493 m, 42°38′N 45°19′E / 42.64, 45.32 (Tebulosmta)
• Diklosmta, 4285 m, 42°33′N 45°48′E / 42.55, 45.8 (Diklosmta)
• Bazardüzü, 4466 m, 41°16′N 47°47′E / 41.27, 47.79 (Bazardüzü)
• Babadag, 3629 m, 41°03′N 48°17′E / 41.05, 48.29 (Babadag)

[edit] Passes

• Marukhis Ugheltekhili (43.38° N 41.37° E)
• Pereval Klukhorskiy (2786 m, 43.26° N 41.80° E)
• Mamison Pass (2820 m,42.72° N 43.80° E)
• Ivris Ugheltekhili (2379 m,42.56° N 44.45° E)
• Dübrar Pass (2209 m,40.96° N 48.63° E)
• jvris ugeltekhili2677m

[edit] Valleys

• Baksan valley
• Donguzorun valley
• Yusengi valley
• Adylsu valley
• Irik valley
• Adyrsu valley
• Kyrtyk valley
• Syltransu valley