The Altai Mountains are a system of remote mountains in central Asia that cover an area of . The mountains stretch for from northwest to southeast. in the Altai Mountains mountain , the highest mountain in Altay in Northern Chuysky Range. In the north of the region is the
Sailughem Mountains, also known as
Kolyvan Altai, which stretch northeast from 49° N and 86° E towards the western extremity of the
Sayan Mountains in 51° 60' N and 89° E. Their mean elevation is . The
snow-line runs at on the northern side and at on the southern, and above it the peaks rise some higher.
Mountain passes across the range are few and difficult, the chief being the
Ulan-daban at (or according to Kozlov), and the
Chapchan-daban, at , in the south and north respectively. On the east and southeast this range is flanked by the
plateau of Mongolia, the transition being affected gradually by means of several minor plateaus, such as
Ukok () with Pazyryk Valley,
Chuya (),
Kendykty (), and
Kak (), (), and (). This region is studded with large lakes, e.g.
Uvs above sea level,
Khyargas,
Dorgon and
Khar , and traversed by various
mountain ranges, of which the principal are the
Tannu-Ola Mountains, running roughly parallel with the Sayan Mountains as far east as the
Kosso-gol, and the
Khan Khökhii mountains, also stretching west and east. The north western and northern slopes of the Sailughem Mountains are extremely steep and difficult to access. On this side lies the highest summit of the range, the double-headed
Belukha, whose summits reach and respectively, and give origin to several
glaciers and
glaciokarst formations ( in aggregate area, ). Altaians call it Kadyn Bazhy, but is also called Uch-Sumer. The second highest peak of the range is in Mongolian part and is named
Khüiten Peak. This peak reaches . Numerous spurs, striking in all directions from the Sailughem mountains, fill up the space between that range and the lowlands of
Tomsk. These include the
Chuya Belki, having an average elevation of , with summits from and several glaciers on their northern slope; the
Katun Belki, which have a mean elevation of about and are mostly snow-clad; the
Kholzun range; the
Korgon, highest point
Mayak Shangina, the Talitsk and Selitsk ranges; as well as the
Tigeretsk Range. Several secondary plateaus of lower elevations are also distinguished by geographers. The Valley of the
Katun river begins as a gorge on the south-west slope of Belukha; then, after a big bend, the river ( long) pierces the
Katun Belki, and enters a wider valley, lying at an elevation of , which it follows until it emerges from the Altai highlands to join the
Biya River. Here, the two rivers merge to form the
Ob River. The next valley is that of the
Charysh, which has the
Korgon and
Tigeretsk Range on one side and the
Talitsk and
Baschelaksk Range (Бащелакский хребет) on the other. This valley includes the small but deep
Kolyvan Lake at an altitude of , which is surrounded by
granite domes and towers. Farther west the valleys of the
Uba, the
Ulba and the
Bukhtarma open south-westwards towards the Irtysh. The lower part of the first, like the lower valley of the Charysh, is heavily populated; in the valley of the Ulba is the
Riddersk mine, at the foot of the
Ivanovsk Peak (). The valley of the Bukhtarma, which has a length of , also has its origin at the foot of the Belukha and the
Kuitun peaks, and it falls some in about , from an alpine plateau at an elevation of to the Bukhtarma fortress (). Its upper parts have glaciers, the best known of which is the
Berel, which descends from the
Belukha. On the northern side of the range which separates the upper Bukhtarma from the upper
Katun is the Katun glacier, which after two ice-falls widen out to . The middle and lower parts of the Bukhtarma valley have been colonized since the 18th century by runaway Russian peasants, serfs, and religious
schismatics (
Raskolniks), who created a free republic there on
Chinese territory. After this part of the valley was annexed to Russia in 1869, it was rapidly colonized. The high valleys farther north, on the same western face of the Sailughem range, are lightly populated, mostly by Kyrgyz shepherds. The areas of the
Bashkaus,
Chulyshman, and
Chulcha, all three leading to the alpine lake of
Teletskoye (length, ; maximum width, ; elevation, ; area, ; maximum depth, ; mean depth, ), are inhabited by
Telengit people. The shores of the lake rise almost sheer to over . From this lake issues the Biya, which joins the Katun at
Biysk, and then meanders through the prairies north-west of the Altai. Farther north the Altai highlands is the Kuznetsk district, which has a slightly different geological aspect, but belongs to the Altai system. The
Abakan River, which rises on the western shoulder of the Sayan mountains, belongs to the system of the
Yenisei. The
Kuznetsk Ala-tau range, on the left bank of the Abakan, runs north-east into the government of
Yeniseisk, while a complex of mountains (Chukchut, Salair, Abakan) fills up the country northwards towards the
Trans-Siberian Railway and westwards towards the
Ob. The Ek-tagh or Mongolian Altai, which separates the
Khovd basin on the north from the Irtysh basin on the south, is a true border-range, in that it rises in a steep and lofty
escarpment from the
Dzungarian depression (), but descends on the north by a relatively short slope to the plateau () of north-western
Mongolia. East of 94° E the range is continued by a double series of mountain chains, all of which exhibit less sharply marked
orographical features and are at considerably lower elevations. The slopes of the constituent chains of the system are inhabited principally by nomadic
Kyrgyz. The five
highest mountains of the Altai are: •
Belukha Mountain (Russia), •
Khüiten Peak (Mongolia), •
Mönkhkhairkhan Mountain (Mongolia), •
Sutai Mountain (Mongolia), •
Tsambagarav Mountain (Mongolia), == Fauna ==