The Pindus is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 metres (8652'). Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epirus, the Pindus range is known colloquially as the spine of Greece. The mountain range stretches from near the Greek-Albanian border in southern Albania, entering the Epirus and Macedonia regions in northern Greece down to the north of the Peloponnese. Geologically, it is an extension of the Dinaric Alps, which dominate the western region of the Balkan Peninsula.