Prielbrusye

Prielbrusye National Park was established in 1986 in the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the central Caucasus, and protects some 1,010 km² around Mount Elbrus, a dormant twin-summited volcano that at 5,642 metres is the highest mountain in Europe under the usual delimitation of the continent.

Elbrus and the peaks around it concentrate the largest glacier system in the Caucasus, with dozens of ice tongues descending from its slopes and feeding the Baksan, Malka and Kuban rivers. Those glaciers are in accelerating retreat and are the subject of continuous scientific monitoring as a regional climate indicator. The landscape combines the ice of the higher altitudes with deep gorges, alpine meadows, pine and birch forests and springs of carbonated mineral water, the narzan, used since ancient times.

The park is Russia's principal high-mountain destination, with a cable car climbing the southern flank of Elbrus and a long tradition of mountaineering and skiing going back to the nineteenth century. That influx, together with projects to expand the tourist facilities, is its main management pressure. The wildlife is that characteristic of the high Caucasus, with the tur, the wild goat endemic to the Caucasus, and raptors such as the bearded vulture and the golden eagle.