How to get there:
We first drove to the small village called Khukh-Uzuur. There, we visited
the office that could issue a permit for driving into the border zone.
We next continued to the town Bulgan where we were supposed to stay
overnight in a guesthouse. Gangaa did not succeed to find this place.
Next, negotiations to stay in a hotel failed (they asked too much?), we ended
up camping by the river.
The next day, August 19th., we had breakfast at 0700 and continued driving east
towards the Chinese border. Here, another Hwy. merges in also (sort of
parallel) from tne east. It had a very long line of trucks waiting
to clear through the border. Of course, extremely inefficient, but that is
how things often are at borders.
We turned onto this Hwy. going east, but then quite soon, turned right, following
a dirt track. This location is close to N46.11532, E091.10074, elevation about 1160 meter.
Next, follow this track as it runs pretty much parallel to and quite close
to the Chinese border.
You will soon get to a Mongolian military check point, location
N45.98745, E091.023, elevation about 1470 meter. Continue towards the
mountain, passing several more check points,
some with soldiers some without.
It is pretty clear that you will not be able to enter this area without
the neccesary authorizations. We continued driving and finally agreed with
the military border guards to establish camp at location
N45.25178, E090.25178, elevation around 2115 meter.
Route description:
One may follow a pretty nice valley
that overall heads south while climbing
to near 3000 meter.
Crossing a shallow col in this area will connect to
another, very shallow valley that heads more south-west. This general
direction will connect to the summit area.
The area is overall quite
flat with several local (smaller) rock formations. Comments:
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed in Mongolia August 2024.
This peak is officially off-limits. The location is considered to be too close to
the Chinese border. There is a considerable amount of "red-tape", border permits, a constructive
relation to the border military and so on. We had obtained a permit to hike in the border zone.
Still, we had a careful
and lengthy discussions with
the local military in order to build
mutual trust and understanding. That we would indeed fully respect the border area and
not make any walk into an area that could be seen as a violation of the mutual respect
that exists between the Mongolian border soldiers and the Chinese border soldiers on
their side of the border.
