The focus of the trip to Mongolia was to climb Mongolia’s high point, Mt. Khuiten, and Nairamdal (tri-border point of China, Russia, and Mongolia). With several days of bad weather (and subsequent food rationing), lots of hidden crevasses, and issues just getting to the mountain, Philip Wegge and I had written off success, but ended up making the summit of Khuiten in beautiful conditions on the last possible day (and Nairamdal the previous day in not-so-beautiful conditions).

Other highlights of the trip included getting close to golden eagles (used for hunting), kayaking and then watching the sunrise over Khovsgol Nuur, and spending the night with a Kazakh family and their friends in their ger drinking horsemilk and eating dried cheese. The hospitality of both Kazakhs and Mongolians is quite amazing. We experienced this throughout the trip, and its something I’ll take with me forever.