The High Monte is located on the eastern slopes of the Andes, extending from the vicinity of Salta (24º S) south to Mendoza (32º S).

It is a landscape of mountains and closed basins which lie between the Sierras Pampeanas on the east and the main spine of the Andes to the west.

Most rain falls during the southern hemisphere summer, when the South American monsoon system brings moist air to the ecoregion.

[6] Native mammals include the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), puma (Puma concolor), South American gray fox (Lycalopex griseus), Patagonian weasel (Lyncodon patagonicus), screaming hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus vellerosus), pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus), white-eared opossum (Didelphis albiventris), and white-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum (Thylamys pallidior).

The mountain viscacha rat (Octomys mimax) is a near-endemic, ranging into an adjacent area of the Low Monte.