Shahdag

The northern range, holding snow into spring long after the coast has forgotten winter.

Shahdag is the high country in the north of Azerbaijan, and the national park around it is the largest in the country. The peak itself is above four thousand metres, and the ridges below it run green and bare in summer, hazing off into each other for as far as the light holds.

There is a ski resort on the lower slopes now, which is where most visitors end up, but the reason to come is what sits behind it. Xinaliq is on the far side of the same massif.