Khibiny Mountains

The Khibiny are a circular massif about forty kilometres across on the Kola Peninsula, rising to 1,200 metres at Yudychvumchorr - not high, but at this latitude the tree line is around four hundred metres, so most of the range is bare rock, snowfield and tundra plateau cut by steep-sided valleys. They are geologically famous: an alkaline intrusion containing over a hundred minerals found nowhere else, and the apatite deposits that Kirovsk was built to mine from the 1930s. For visitors the range works two ways. In winter it holds the most reliable snow in European Russia, with ski slopes above Kirovsk running from November into May and freeride terrain beyond them, in a season that includes the polar night in December and aurora on clear nights. In summer there is hiking across the plateaux and passes, with permanent snow patches, weather that turns fast, and no facilities once you leave the road.

What you actually see

• The bare massif - a range mostly above the tree line at four hundred metres.
• The minerals - an alkaline intrusion with over a hundred species found nowhere else.
• The ski season - the most reliable snow in European Russia, November to May.
• The polar night - December darkness, with aurora on clear nights.

When to go

February to April for skiing with returning daylight; July to September for hiking. Three days to a week. December brings the polar night and no daylight at all.

Honest expectations

Weather changes violently and whiteouts kill people here every year - do not go onto the plateau without navigation and experience. Avalanche risk is real and the range has a history of fatal slides. Kirovsk is an industrial mining town, not a resort in the alpine sense. Winter temperatures reach minus thirty.

Nearby

Kirovsk and Apatity are at the foot; the Lovozero tundras and Seydozero are east.