The Altay Mts. are situated at the northern borders of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The geographical coordinate of the studying area is: 86?5’ to 8811’ east lo.ngitu.de and 48°3’ to 49°1‘ north latitude. With an area amounts to 5588 km2. On the basis of the scientific data collected by the investigation in 1980, this paper deals with some problems of the vertical zonation in this area.The neotectonic movement occurred since the end of Tertiary and acted upon the Altay Mts. in the form of vertical movement have caused intense uplift of the fault-block mountains. Altitude of the mountains generally exceed 4000 m.The vertical zones on southern slope of the western Altay Mts. belong to a temperate semiarid type. Moisture and temperature, type of plants and soils are taken as main indicators in the division of the vertical zonation. Ten vertical zones may by recognized on the southern slope of the Altay Mts.When the spectra of vertical zones of the western Altay area are compared with those of the eastern Altay Mts., of the Tien-Shan Mts. and of the Kunlun Mts., mainly due to the increase of aridity and the lower latitudes, the altitude of some vertical zones of the other mountains are higher than the western Altay.In this paper, the relation of the vertical zones to land utilization is also described.