Valdai Hills

The Valdai Hills,[a] sometimes shortened to Valdai,[b] are an upland region in the north-west of central European Russia running north–south, about midway between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, spanning Leningrad, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, and Smolensk Oblasts.

The ridge is overlain by deposited glacial materials in the form of terminal moraines and other detritus.

The Valdai Hills reach their maximum height of 346.9 m (1,138 ft) near Vyshny Volochyok.

[2][3][4] The Volga, the Daugava (the Western Dvina), the Lovat, the Msta, the Dnieper, the Syas, and other rivers originate in the Valdai Hills.

[5] During the last glacial period, the Valdai Hills with its hard rocks posed an obstacle to the glacier ice that advances from northwest, diverting the ice into the lowlands.