What is the highest peak of the Urals' Southern Ural section?

Mount Yamantau is the highest peak of the Southern Ural section.

Yamantau stands at about 1,640 metres in Bashkortostan, Russia, inside the South Ural Nature Reserve. The mountain has two principal summits: Big Yamantau, the higher point, and Small Yamantau, which reaches roughly 1,512 metres. Its broad, plateau-like topography differs from the sharp alpine profiles associated with many famous mountain ranges.

The name comes from Bashkir words meaning “bad,” “evil,” or “wicked mountain.” Local explanations connect the name with difficult terrain, surrounding swamps, rocky slopes, and bears, all of which made the area troublesome for herding. The mountain is also linked to persistent Cold War and post-Soviet speculation about a large underground military installation, although many details remain unconfirmed.

Mount Narodnaya is higher than Yamantau, at roughly 1,895 metres, but it belongs to the Polar Urals, not the Southern Urals. Mount Iremel is another notable Southern Ural summit, yet it is lower. Konzhakovsky Stone lies farther north in the Northern Urals, so none of these alternatives fits the question as precisely.