High-mountain ecosystems are capable of accumulating signifi cant amounts of pollutants. The aim of this study is to investigate the physicochemical properties and assess the lateral and radial differentiation of selected heavy metals in cryoconites and soils across three gorges of the Central Caucasus (Khulamo-Bezengi, Tsey, and Skazka). It was found that the cryoconites of the Skazka Glacier, located near a popular ski resort, are enriched in fi ne-grained fractions, Corg, copper, and nickel, whereas the accumulation of zinc and lead on the Bezengi Glacier is largely associated with geomorphological features. Intra-profi le distribution of metals exhibited an eluvial pattern in less developed soils and a surface-accumulative pattern in fully developed soils, where a biogeochemical barrier fi xes copper, lead, and cadmium while nickel maintains mobility. Maximum accumulation of lead, zinc, and cadmium was observed in the background Tsey Gorge due to the proximity of the Sadon ore fi eld, whereas in the Skazka Gorge, coeffi cients were close to one, indicating direct inheritance of the cryoconite composition by the soils. Thus, cryoconites largely act as a primary geochemical source for the soils of alpine ecosystems and the nature of their differentiation is determined more by the stage of soil formation than by anthropogenic loads