permanent observation and research points placed in the mountains at elevations of 2,000 m and higher. According to their function, high altitude stations are classified into two types: hydrometeorological stations (the most numerous) and special stations, which conduct observations of glaciers, snow avalanches, selva phenomena, mountain lakes, atmospheric electricity, ozone, cosmic rays, solar radiation, and so forth. The highest high altitude station in the USSR is on Fedchenko glacier (4,169 m above sea level). The first stationary high mountain observations in Russia were conducted between 1862 and 1866 on Davdarskii glacier in the Caucasus by the academician G. V. Abikh.