How to get there:
Leave the paved Hwy. at location N43.5717, E103.8588. Follow established vehicle tracks,
possibly also a bit cross country to reach location N43.61265, E103.80028, elevation
near 2360 meter. This is a good place from where to start the hike.
Note that when we were there, the locals came and told us that we were NOT welcome to
camp at this location, moreover the summit was a holy place that should NOT be visited.
This should be kept in mind, perhaps a camp somewhat more to the east will be considered
less intrusive?
Route description:
From the location above, go west, cross one ravine, then turn into the first
valley, ie. NOT the one directly uphill from camp,
but the next one going left (when facing uphill).
Follow a reasonable trail up this valley, then climb left and reach the ridge that gently
connects uphill with the main crest. This route will get you across or near the east
summit, location N43.6326, E103.7850, elevation slightly above 2800 meter.
Continue across the connecting saddle to the highest, middle summit. This summit has
a large cairn decorated with colorful pieces of clothes.
Comments:
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed in Mongolia August 2024.
We arrived at a good camp site shortly before 1500. The weather was about to clear, still some clouds
sitting on the mountain tops above us. We made the decision to do the peak right away rather than wait
and do it early the next morning.
We started out at 1515. We told Manlai that he could rest after his long duty driving one of our vehicles,
but he wanted to stretch his legs and come along. The hike was easy and straightforward, no route finding
problems. Steven stayed a bit behind us and pretty soon Manlai and I arrived at a cairn, the mountain totally
in the cloud with no visibility. He congratulated me with finishing the planned ultra peaks. However, shortly
I looked at my map and realized that we were on the east summit,
the middle summit being the highest. I tried
to explain, but since he does not know English, I guessed he would just follow. I started directly down towards
the saddle, very little visibility. Then, abruptly, the middle peak came out of the clouds, I could hear
a loud exclaimation from Manlei behind me, now he understood why I suddenly headed downhill! We quickly
ascended and arrived at the cairn at 16151, so one hour including the short stop at the false (east) summit.
The cairn was decorated with many flags and other symbols in multiple colors. We understood that this was
some religious symbols. Steven arrived
15 minutes later, he wanted to also visit the 5 meter
lower western summit.
OK, I told him we would just sit around and wait until he returned.
Next, we dcescended pretty much the same way as our ascent. Manlei and I increased our speed somewhat the
last couple of kilometer. I noticed that if I walked as fast as possible, he needed to run in order
to keep up. Thus, a friendly little "race" concluded this last hike of this long trip. We choose slightly
different lines at the very end crossing a small ravine with a final uphill to camp. My direct
approach paid off, arriving about 100 meter ahead of Manlei.
Back at camp, Gangaa reported that they had a visit by the locals. They had told her that our camp
was not approved and that we should avoid climbing their sacred mountain. Hmm, first time not being
received in a friendly way. We had dinner, then decided to movee camp avay from this area, no need
to possibly create a confrontation over this matter. Thus, we drove back down to the main Hwy. followed
it some kilometer east and set up camp at a campground where several other parties already
had established camp.
This was the final ultra
prominent mountain scheduled for this trip. We had visited 15 such peaks
in a 30 day period. Since I had 2 peaks from 5 years back, this also marked me ascending 17 of
the 18 ultras in Mongolia. The only one remaining, Munkh Sardyk, is located in the north on the
border to Russia. This peak requires a separate trip, Gangaa recommends to do this peak in the
month of March. The peak is 3491 meter with a prominence of 1578 meter.
