Kuznetsk Alatau

Kuznetskiy Alatau () is a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia, between Kuznetsk Depression and Minusinsk Depression. It stretches for 300 km and the highest peak is . The range is in the northwestern part of the South Siberian Mountains, which lie northwest of Mongolia.
These mountains have a smooth outline with rather steep western and gentle eastern slopes. The Siberian fir overwhelmingly predominates in the forest belt except for its upper part where, at the tree line (1300–1900 m), the siberian pine becomes dominant. The highlands are occupied mostly by vast large-stoned screes, and also by patches of subalpine meadows and, on some southern mountain massifs, of bushy, lichen and moss tundras. The basin of the Kondoma River in Gornaya Shoriya is remarkable for the Siberian lime-tree woods which are thought to be the relics of a pre-Pleistocene nemoral vegetation of Siberia. All over the upland, the forest openings are occupied by long forb forest meadows.
The range is composed mainly of metamorphic rocks rich in iron, manganese, nephelines, and gold.
Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed in the Kuznetskiy Alatau mountain range in 1994.