Altai: ``Golden Mountains’’ at the Crossroad of Civilizations
By Oleg Kiriyanov
Contributing writer
The Turkic word ``Altai'' means ``golden mountains.'' These are the highest mountains of the huge Siberian region. The highest peak, Belukha Mountain, is 4,506 meters high and always covered with snow. In Russian (this peak is located in Russia) Belukha literally means something like ``white mountain.''
Altai, without any exaggeration, is real mountainous country. Its ranges stretch for about 2,000 kilometers through four countries _ Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. To get some understanding of Altai's size here are some statistics: On the territory of Altai, there are over 20,000 lakes, 430 karst caves, about 1,500 glaciers, 200,000 big and small rivers, more than 2,000 mineral water springs. Katun, one of the biggest rivers running from Altai, has about 7,000 waterfalls. Actually, it is a real mountainous country where a human being feels himself as small and powerless as a grain of sand in front of the size and grandeur of nature.
As soon as you get to the Altai Mountains, you understand that words cannot explain beauty of
Nov 15, 2007