Upgrading Kernel Remotely

My dedicated server, located in a datacenter far away, is running the 2.4 Linux Kernel. I would like to upgrade this to the 2.6 series Kernel. However, since I am merely renting the box, and my only connection with it is via SSH, what would be the best way to accomplish this? Is there a way to make the system only boot the new Kernel once, and if it crashes, restart? I've compiled before when having physical access to the machine, but never through a remote terminal before.

Any advice for this?