TREKKING IN MONGOLIA’S ALTAI MOUNTAINS

By: LOWA Ambassador Lisa Ballard 

My latest trek, in August to the Altai Mountains in western Mongolia, was certainly full of surprises, starting with the journey to get there.

Getting to the Altai region required flying halfway around the world, followed by a 125-mile hot, dusty rodeo in a 30-year-old Russian van. I was surprised at the lack of pavement outside the capital of Ulaanbaatar and even more surprised when we stopped at the ger camp of Jensibek, a champion eagle hunter. During a tug-o-war on horseback, this guy can yank the legs of a dead goat so hard that his opponent and horse topple over. He let me hold his golden eagle. In return, I gave him a bottle of Advil, figuring all athletes need it. He was so delighted you would have thought the orange pills were gold.

The trek finally began alongside the Milk Water, which looked creamy due to its dense mineralload. The first task was loading our gear and supplies on… camels! Mongolia is a nomadic, horse-based culture, so I assumed we would use horses as pack animals, but as our guide explained, we were just north of the Gobi Desert where camels are common, they do well in dry climates, and they can carry twice as much as horses.

The first day - a hot, dry 12-miler - we traversed bogs below sheer 1,000-foot cliffs, climbed over small rises of land, and rock-hopped across streams. My LOWA MAURIA GTX’s kept my feet dry and supported on the variable terrain.

The second day, another 12-miler, we climbed over an 12,000-foot pass in a fury of bone-chilling wind and rain. Wild horses loitered near the top. I wanted to watch them, but worried about hypothermia and kept moving.

As I dropped down the far side of the pass, a beautiful rainbow framed the way, another surprise. A few steps later, I waded through a few hundred goats into a nomad family’s ger camp. They cranked up their woodstove with some dried dung and gave me hot milk tea. I was so grateful for the warmth, their kindness and a peek at their lifestyle.

On day three, we followed the Milk River, another creamy waterway.

On day four, we entered Tavan Bogd National Park in the border area with Russia. The country’s five tallest mountains and the 8-mile long Potanin Glacier crown the park.

We climbed steadily all day eventually making our way to the basecamp beside the glacier. I watched two climbing teams traverse the massive glacier toward snow-covered Mount Khuiten (14,291 feet), the highest in the park and the country, then bundled up for a cold night in our tents. I was surprised at how glaciated Khuiten and its neighboring summits were. 14,000 feet was equivalent to mountains near my home in the Rockies that did not have permanent snowfields.

Our last day was shorter, about 7.5 miles, first via the moraine to the base of Malachin Peak, one of the other big five, then to the Presidential Stupa, a giant cairn draped with prayer flags where the van met us. As we bounced along beginning the long journey home, I took off my Mauria’s and put on my Ferrox GTX’s, my travel and camp shoes, and the only other footwear I brought on the trip. My feet were happy, and joy filled my heart at having such an intriguing adventure. Though I love the physical challenge of a trek, the full immersion into a foreign place and the culture is what really draws me to these types of expeditions.

Content Courtesy: Lisa Ballard