Trip Reports

Mongolian Climber - 21 Jul to 5 Aug '18

Mugi, and team members Elaine and Nicola on the summit ridge of Khuiten, the highest in Mongolia 4374m.

Written by Leader Rob Wymer, August 2018

Hmmmm, it’s got to be here somewhere. Nope, maybe a bit further away? Erm….. Where the heck is it? Surely not all the way over there?? Crikey - there it is!

I have to admit that, despite having been very keen to lead the expedition for a few years now, I wasn’t entirely sure exactly where Mongolia was. Turns out it was a lot further away than I’d imagined! Remote was the word, and remote it certainly was - from beginning to end, and you know what? It was all the better for it. This was a REAL adventure in the truest sense of the word. More than just a mountaineering expedition, this was a superb cultural experience too, with time spent immersed in the traditional side of the country and its various ethnic groups both before and after the climbing.

Whilst Aeroflot may well have the youngest fleet on the globe, their leaving of our bags in Moscow when we transferred to Ulaanbaatar wasn’t entirely unusual as we found out when we enquired upon arrival. Oh well, it didn’t stop us enjoying our tour of the excellent National Museum and some fabulous ancient Buddhist temples too, and our bags turned up the next day anyway. Thankfully, there are some superb quality restaurants in UB too, reflecting the symbiotic relationship of the old and new structures in the capital city. The next part of the adventure proved to be the internal flight to the outlying town of Olgii in the far west of the country, so far in fact that we went back in time an hour to get there. Over the space of 24 hours, our flight was delayed, then brought forward, then delayed again, and then cancelled. In an effort to at least end up in vaguely the correct part of Mongolia we ended up taking a different flight to a frontier town some 200km from Olgii early evening, which then necessitated the first of many ‘interesting’ road journeys. The term ‘road’ is a moveable feast in Mongolia, with very few of them being paved, most of them merely following a vague line on the ground, and all of them being really very bumpy indeed. Additionally, this first one of ours was overnight which made the overall experience all the more exciting. There WAS a new ‘road’ that appeared to be nearing completion but the closest we got to it was giving it a glancing blow from one side to another, criss-crossing it frequently, snatching small glimpses of it in the headlights as we thundered across it at right angles. Our trusty steeds for this and subsequent land journeys? The ubiquitous old Russian UAZ452 Buchanka van! Basic but seemingly indestructible and unstoppable; we grew to love these tough little vans, which was just as well given the lengthy journeys we had to complete in them. Our Whacky Races nocturnal dash eventually got us to our original destination of Olgii and we slept well for a few hours in traditional Gers (Mongolian yurts), before continuing as planned to the east National Park gate, and the start of our climbing mission.

I’m well-accustomed to kitbags being carried by porters, ponies, mules, yaks and even llamas, but this time it was camels that effortlessly transported our bags to Base Camp, another indication of the difference of this trip from the ‘norm’. Our walk there was just lovely. It was real big sky country, not too strenuous, varied and, when we topped a rise and saw Base Camp for the first time in the distance, awe-inspiring too. We looked up the length of the Potaniin glacier, and we could identify not only our Base Camp, but the area of High Camp and crucially all 3 of our planned summits too. We settled into Base Camp, helped enormously by the fabulous fare of our cook Uka, and soon felt comfortable on the grassy meadow next to the glacier; comfortable but feeling still so very remote and small.

Our first objective was an ascent of Malchin, ‘Nomad peak’, at 4037m and unrelenting from the valley floor too. The team slogged up the scree to gain the shapely and more satisfying summit ridge and the first of many, many ‘Oh wow!’ moments as we then gazed across into the part of the Altai range that is in Russia. Our first attempt at the next peak didn’t quite go to plan as un-forecasted high winds and snowfall overnight meant I had to dig my way out of my tent at 0230 to assess the situation, before gladly popping back in to continue sleeping instead of even thinking about climbing anything. Happily though, the picture had very much improved by lunchtime that day, and so we roped-up and headed a short way further up the glacier to summit Nairandal “Friendship Peak’ at 4180m. Its name stems from the incredible fact that at the summit we stood right on the border between Mongolia, China and Russia too. The views were amazing and we again felt very small in such a vast expanse of empty mountains. The following day, I again woke up at 0230 but this time to perfect climbing weather. Roped-up again, we took a deep breath and set our sights through the darkness on Khuiten “Cold Peak’, at 4374m the highest in Mongolia. Definitely a step up in difficulty from the previous peaks, we were nevertheless lucky with soft snow conditions and fine weather for our climb. Our strong team soon caught up with a smaller team that had set off ahead of us, and as the skies brightened, the angle lessened and staring the full and large moon in the face, I crested the summit dome and stood with my top team as the highest people in Mongolia! The vista was staggering: endless unclimbed snowy peaks stretching away into China, a dazzling azure sky, our entire playground of the previous few days stretched out before us, and a whole heap of grinning faces too.

Our walk-out a couple of days later down the stunning White River valley, made sure we remembered what an incredible space we were in, despite leaving the white bits, and when we arrived at the south gate to leave the National Park, our eternally-cheery cook Uka made us a traditional Mongolian bbq which we happily demolished ‘hands on’, along with a couple of local beers too. The adventure was not over yet, and our quirky grey vans bumped our heads and shoulders once more on the way back to Olgii, stopping on the way to visit a family of traditional Golden Eagle-hunters who even allowed us to hold their magnificent birds on our arms for as long as we could manage it! We found more beer, showers, good food and decent coffee back in Olgii, along with a Kazakh feast and music for our last night in the west, and then very fine quality cashmere shopping once back in UB as well. All too soon it was time to head home, although Laurence hadn’t had his fill of this land and was staying for another holiday directly afterwards too, this time on horseback!

My hearty congratulations for their achievements to Wendy & Russell S, Jonathan & Michelle, Richard & Sophy, Jerry, Elaine, Matt, Russell W, Laurence, and Nicola, along with my thanks for their company on this fantastic and wonderful adventure. My good friend Adele P led this trip last year and named it in her Top 5 expeditions (and that’s saying something) but I would definitely agree with her. Mongolia was an incredible, remote and exciting place; would I go again? You betcha.

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