The mountains in Macedonia are divided according
to the following criteria:Time of origin,
the geological composition, the size and the geographical
orientation, they are divided in two groups: Rhodope and
Dinaric. Height: high, medium and low.In the first division,
the Rhodope group is considered as older and embraces the
larger part of the mountain regions in eastern Macedonia,
while the Dinaric group is younger and divided in 3 subgroups:
Vardar zone, which includes the mountains on the both sides of
the river Vardar, right after the great curve of the river
north-west of Skopje. Pelagonia massif, located on the
west-southwest of the Vardar zone and eastern of the Shara zone.
Shara zone, the highest one in Macedonia, is located
in the most western part of the country, and stretches
in north-south direction along the borders with
Serbia, Albania and Greece.
The mountains in the Republic of Macedonia,
by their shape are very different, ranging from
mild round shape in the eastern part, to fully
Alpine in the western part. Such diversity
offers great possibilities for developing
sports as alpinism, sport climbing,
speleological, cannoning, paragliding,
skiing, ski-climbing etc. On the
slopes of some of the mountains,
there are ski-centers, such as
Popova Shapka on Shar Planina,
Mavrovo (Bistra), Begova Cheshma (Baba),
Krushevo (Krushevo Mountain), Oteshevo (Galichica)
and other smaller centers, constantly developing.
