Region: Central Asia & The Far East

Paul Hudson (with Ken Findlay, Stuart Gallagher, John Given, Les Holbert and Karl Zientek). July-August 2002

Information about mountaineering in Mongolia is fairly limited, and this leader described the area of his interest - Ikh Turgen Uul, a National Park situated N of Tsagaannuur Village, (itself N of Ölgiy) as 'Fuzziness on the Map'. Plans to fly to Ölgiy were thwarted by an outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease, so the team was forced to make a horrendous multi-day overland journey from Ulaanbaatar instead. Glaciation in the area was far less than expected, making it possible to walk or simply scramble up most peaks. However, Findlay and Zientek found an unclimbed 'Alpine' Ridge (which they named 'Noodle Ridge') on which they reached 4050m in a 5-day exercise during the worst weather of the trip.