Hoverla

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Hoverla
Hoverla, September 2003
Elevation	2,061 metres (6,761 feet)
Location	Ukraine
Range	Beskids
Coordinates	48°10′12″N, 24°34′12″E
First ascent	Unknown

Hoverla mountain (Ukrainian: Говерла, Hoverla; Hungarian: Hóvár; Romanian: Hovârla; Goverla, Czech and Slovak: Hoverla, Polish: Howerla, Russian: Говерла ) at 2,061 m, is the highest mountain in Ukraine and part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain is located in the Eastern Beskides, in the so-called Chornohora region. The slopes are covered with beech and spruce forests, above which there is a belt of sub-alpine meadows called polonyna in Ukrainian. At the eastern slope there is the main spring of the Prut river.

The date of the first ascent is unknown. In late 19th century the mountain became a notable tourist attraction, especially among tourists from nearby cities of Galicia. In 1880 the first tourist route between the peak of Hoverla and Krasny Luh was marked by Leopold Wajgel of the Galician Tatra Society. The following year the first tourist shelter was founded there.

In the 20th century and especially after Ukraine gained independence, losing the cheap access to the many mountain region of the former USSR, the mountain is increasingly gaining popularity as an extreme sport site. Some routes are classified as 1A in winter period (from late autumn to May), according to the USSR grading system. Nowadays because of its prominence too many unskilled extreme-lovers are taking attempts to climb it in winter, resulting in regular frostbites or even deaths.

In October 2007 the new Right pro-Russian Eurasia Party-affiliated “Eurasian Youth Union” vandalized the official Ukrainian state symbols put on the Hoverla mountain. According to the group, they “renamed” the mountain as “Stalin’s peak”.^[1] Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, the SBU identified Alexander Bovdunov, Valery Mantrov and Leonid Savin as being responsible for .attack^[2]

Hoverla is climbed every year by Ukranian President Viktor Yuschenko.