Mount Olympus (Cyprus)

This article is about the mountain in Cyprus. For the mountain in Greece, see Mount Olympus. For other mountains with this same name, see List of peaks named Olympus. For other uses, see Olympus.
Mount Olympus
Chionistra
Mount Olympus in Winter
Highest point
Elevation1,952 m (6,404 ft)[1]
Prominence1,952 m (6,404 ft)[2]
ListingCountry high point
Ultra
Coordinates34°56′11″N 32°51′48″E / 34.93639°N 32.86333°E / 34.93639; 32.86333[3]
Geography
Mount Olympus is located in Cyprus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus
Location of Mount Olympus in Cyprus
LocationCyprus
Parent rangeTroodos

Olympus, or Chionistra, (Greek: Όλυμπος or Χιονίστρα; Turkish: Olimpos Tepesi) at 1,952 metres (6,404 ft), is the highest point in Cyprus.[3] It is located in the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus.[4] Mount Olympus peak and the "Troodos Square" fall under the territory of Platres in Limassol District. A British long range radar currently operates at Mount Olympus' peak. It has a highland warm-summer mediterranean climate.

Mount Olympus is formed of ultramafic rock, dominantly serpentinized harzburgite which is part of the Troodos ophiolite.[5]

The Mount Olympus Ski resort consists of the Sun Valley and North Face areas. Each area has its own ski lifts and runs, operated by the Cyprus Ski Club:

  • Aphrodite or Sun Valley I, with a 125m T-bar ski lift and beginner-level slopes
  • Hermes or Sun Valley II, with a 140m T-bar ski lift and intermediate-level slopes
  • Dias/Zeus or North Face I, with a 380m chairlift and advanced-level slopes
  • Hera or North Face II, with a 262m T-bar ski lift and beginner-level slopes

In the Sun Valley area there is a 55m rope tow baby lift as well.

Writing in the late first century BC or first century AD, the geographer Strabo reported that on one of its promontories was a temple to Aphrodite Acraea (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίτης Ἀκραίας) which means Aphrodite of the Heights, which women were forbidden to enter.[6]

  1. ^ "Olympos (Chionistra)" on summitpost.org Retrieved 1 October 2011
  2. ^ "Olympos" on Peaklist.org, Europe Ultra-Prominences Retrieved 1 October 2011
  3. ^ a b "Olympus" on Peakbagger.com Retrieved 1 October 2011
  4. ^ "Country Profile: Climate". Official Website of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Washington D.C. Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2006-10-11..
  5. ^ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020JB021079 Aled D. Evans, Damon A. H. Teagle, Dave Craw, Timothy J. Henstock, Ismael Himar Falcon-Suarez. Uplift and Exposure of Serpentinized Massifs: Modeling Differential Serpentinite Diapirism and Exhumation of the Troodos Mantle Sequence, Cyprus. JGR Solid Earth, Volume 126, Issue 6, June 2021.
  6. ^ Strabo. Geography, XIV.6.3.