Ai-Petri Mountain is one of the most famous natural attractions of the Crimea, as the Golden Gate in Koktebel or the Swallow`s Nest in Yalta. The teeth of Ai-Petri are visible from many villages of the Southern Crimea from Yalta to Alupka. Ai-Petri Mountain is located on the area of the Yalta Nature Reserve, but thousands of tourists climb to it every day.
The height of Ai-Petri Mountain is 1234 meters. Its teeth rise above the ridge of the Crimean Mountains, so many people think that Ai-Petri is the highest mountain in the Crimea. That`s not so. The highest mountain in Crimea is Roman Kosh (1545 m).
Ai-Petri Mount is not even among the ten highest mountains of the Crimea, but it certainly has no equal in its beauty. The Ai-Petri Mountain range is composed of reef limestones similar in composition to the mountains in the area of the Novy Svet Resort. On the upper plateau of Mount Ai-Petri, it looks like a plain with small hills, but the huge stone teeth at the edge of the cliff made it a symbol of the Crimea. These teeth are called the Crown of Crimea.
The height of the almost sheer rocky cliff of Ai-Petri exceeds 600 meters. The height of the teeth reaches 80 meters. The teeth were formed during weathering. They are located about 20-30 meters from the edge of the cliff and a suspended pedestrian path is laid to them. Everyone who wants to take an extreme walk over the cliff to the teeth can do it for a fee.
The flat terrain on the top of Ai-Petri Mountain is called Ai-Petri Ayla. This is the territory of the Yalta Nature Reserve. There are karst caves on its surface. The entrance to one of them, the Three-Eyed Cave, is located near the cable car station. It is also necessary to say about the climate at the top of the Ai-Petri plateau. In summer, the temperature here is 5-7 degrees lower than on the coast, but the main problem is very strong winds. In winter, the top of Ai-Petri Mount is the only place in Crimea where snow is constantly lying, allowing skiing and sledding.
Ai-Petri Mountain can be reached by car or by cable car. The road to Ai-Petri Mountain begins on the South Coast highway, near the village of Vinogradnoye. It was built in 1894. On the way up, you can make a stop near the Uchan-Su Waterfall. This is the highest waterfall in the Crimea. However, remember that Uchan-Su is a seasonal waterfall and in summer it dries up. After climbing the mountain serpentine to the plateau, the road goes straight to Bakhchisarai, and the road to the top of Ai-Petri turns left.
The second option is to climb by cable car from the village of Miskhor. It was opened in 1988, and has itself become a local landmark. The rope is fixed on three supports. The lower station of the road is located near the sea at an altitude of 86 m above sea level, and the upper station is on the plateau of Ai-Petri Mountain, at an altitude of 1152 m. The length of the cable car is 3 kilometers. The lifting time is 20 minutes. For those years, the project was very bold, because of the too steep angle of ascent of 45°. The Ai-Petri cable car is the longest in Europe. In winter, the road is often closed, and the cable car remains the only way to climb Ai-Petri.
