How to get there:
It is possible to drive a good 4WD to location N49.57629, E091.49263, elevation near 2890 meter.
This is close enough that the peak may be climbed in a single day.
Route description:
This route has several stages and it is not without difficulties. Any party attempting
this climb should have adequate mountain experience. It will certainly be a full day outing.
First, head north-east towards the valley that must be crossed. There are often horses in this
valley and you should be able to locate some traces of trails that descend while traversing left.
A river in this valley must be crossed,
a good crossing area
is near location N49.57910, E091.46402,
about 100 meter drop from the trailhead. One should be able to cross this (2 major and many minor
creeks) by jumping on rocks and keep your boots dry.
Continue an ascending traverse heading north-east until you reach the top of a broad ridge/plateau
near location N49.58363, E091.44171, elevation about 3135 meter.
You are now about 2.2 kilometer from the glacier. In order to reach it head south-west to reach
moraines, then cross these
in unpleasant terrain (loose rocks) generally heading west.
The glacier starts near location
N49.57952, E091.41148, elevation around 3390 meter.
Cross up the lower part of the glacier, the slope is very gentle.
Next, there are 2 different options.
You may climb pretty much directly up this glacier, it is steeper higher up and most
certainly you will run into some crevasses that must be crossed. The alternative is to head
right and get off the glacier while it is still almost flat. You must then ascend quite steep,
loose rocks while gradually moving left to stay above the glacier. Rocks may slide here, be careful
to avoid any danger from such events.
The two alternative routes should meet again at the edge of the glacier above all steepish
terrain. A good location may be near N49.57788, E091.39378, elevation about 3790 meter.
From here, one may continue almost directly to the summit which is one kilometer away.
The route is on the upper part of the glacier and there may be crevasses, most likely
small. This part of the route starts with an uphill,
followed by a flat section before
a final hill to reach the summit.
Comments:
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed in Mongolia August 2024.
We left our camp in the valley west of Otgon Tenger
about 0700. The drive out to the nearest town, Uliastai, took quite
some time. We did some shopping and continued to the shoreline
of Mongolia's number 4 lake, the Khyargas Lake.
This is a salt lake. Nice camp on the beach.
The next day, August 4th., we continued driving towards the peak. Going mostly west, our drivers knew the
local roads and we crossed nicely to find a good location for car camping at a pretty large, flat
plateau just east of a distinct valley that cuts the landscape near our target peak.
Our itinerary specified a 12 kilometer trek to a "high camp" using camels to carry our gear. We had a few
moments of (internal) confusion, since Sarang seemed reluctant to provide this. We argued that this was
in the plan and clearly paid for, so definitely needed. However, as our landcruisers came closer and closer
to our peak, it became clear that we were on a different route. Eventually, it became obvious that camels
would not be needed, since the only sensible plan would be to climb the peak in a single day
from a camp next to our vehicles.
We made camp and prepared for departure at first light the next morning.
Breakfast at 0530, we left on time at 0600.
Adam immediately left
our small group
(Steven, Manlei and me) and went more left. Shortly later, as we made a descending
traverse (left) towards a good location to cross the river, Adam descended more steeply,
now on our right hand side. We crossed the river
easily on rocks that were spread across,
by now we had lost sight of Adam. I thought this was pretty stupid. We were a small group
of 4 trying to climb a pretty major peak in a very remote region. We had one person, Manlei,
that had been here before and therefore knew a pretty good route. Why go solo and make the
day more challenging and possibly more dangerous than it should? Why potentially make our
chances of success substantially smaller? He knew that his actions in any case would slow
us down as we needed to look for him and possibly see if we could again merge into
one group forming a single team as seemed to be the only way to proceed keeping safety
in mind.
We ascended the ridge on the opposite side of the valley, then called a long break to
look for Adam. After about 30 minutes we gave up and continued. Some time later, Manlei
had a message on his walkie talkie from camp that Adam had returned. Very good, at least
we could now finally focus on our ascent and stop being worried about Adam.
We continued uphill, but then needed to cross several pretty big moraines that blocked the
way to the lower part of the glacier. Very unpleasant terrain, loose and steepish, both up and
down. We finally made the edge of what is a very gentle lower part of the glacier. The time
was already 0900, so about 3 hours to get this far.
Manlei went ahead,
directly up the middle of the glacier. He was clearly headed for the
much steeper section higher up. It is always hard to judge the steepness when going directly
toward it, it looked steep to me. No snow, so just ice, perhaps as steep as 45 degrees? I looked
right, it seemed that one could do an ascending traverse in that direction, then switch left higher
up and gain what looked like somewhat easier ground up there. I decided to explore this a bit
more. However, as I got to the critical area just before a possible left turn, I ran into
pretty big crevasses. There were snow bridges that most likely could be used, but definitely
not without having a team with a rope.
Steven and Manlei were out of sight.
Thus, my only option was to traverse back towards the middle, but now on what was certainly still
a pretty comfortable slope, directly below a very steep ice section.
As soon as I got back towards the middle,
hings looked very doable also there, but with the same problem, not surprisingly,
crevasses as the slope of the glacier got steeper (below). Manlei and Steven were right there and
they had roped up in order to negotiate the terrain immediately above.
I joined in and attached
to the rope between them. Steven crossed a couple of crevasses with care, the snow looked slightly
unsafe, but did provide a route across. I needed a little bit of front-pointing, my legs had
signs of a minor cramp, i realized that my boots should have been laced more tightly.
The glacier soon became easier and less steep. I confirmed that my route would also have worked,
but only with a team, no solo. We now
quickly gained elevation and the glacier started to have
a layer of snow on its surface. We made the edge towards the now more gentle rock area on our right
and made a brief stop there. From here, things looked pretty easy. We resumed with Manlei in the
front. First, directly up a snow slope, then more gradual, essentially flat, even a smallish
descent. We could now see the summit with its final uphill slope, straight ahead.
Traversing the flat area, Steven stepped into a small crevasse with one boot, no big issue, but
a small reminder that we were still crossing a glacier.
We arrived on the summit at 1130.
It had taken us 5:30 to get here, so absolutely a non-trivial
climb. A very impressive scenery below us.
Dry, steep glaciers. A pretty challenging ridge
connecting to the second summit. This one, fortunately lower, looked like a fairly extensive
project, most likely more than one hour each way.
This summit was indeed a nice reward for our effort. We stayed 30 minutes before starting our way
back. When we reached the upper glacier edge, we were in full agreement to descend the rock slope
rather than the steepish ice with crevasses on top. However, we soon realized that this route
also had its difficulties. The slope was steep enough that some released rocks would continue
down, not coming to rest after a few bounces.
The only safe thing would be to stay close together.
Very loose slope, Steven had already moved too far ahead. Fortuneately, he was already down
close to the lower part of the glacier, when Manlei released a pretty good sized rock slide.
Finally, safely down, we walked down the last part of the glacier. None of us were very
much looking forward to crossing the moraines, but this still seemed like the best choice.
The rest of the return hike was long, but without much to write home about. We were back at
camp 4 hours after leaving the summit.
Within one hour of our return, black clouds converged on the mountains followed by
lightning and thunder. The rain also moved
across towards our camp and we had a few pretty
strong showers. However, it looked considerably worse across near the higher peaks.
Obviously, Adam was unhappy about his state of affairs. He had tried to cross the river
in a place that was difficult. Then given up and noticed that his shape was not as
he wanted it when climbing back up the hill. He decided that he wanted to give up
on Mongolia and travel to Japan. Thus, plans were made for getting him back to
Ulaan Baatar. This would involve a 24 hour bus ride, since there were no available
flights for the next 6 days or so.
Thus, the next morning, we broke camp and drove back, initially pretty much along
the same route. We got to Ulaangom
and said goodbye to Adam. This was indeed a very
sad and unfortunate turn of events. The Mongolia ultra team now reduced to
two climbers, Steven and myself.
