Mount Khuiten Climbing Tour in Mongolia

Khuiten Climb and Tavan Bogd Expedition

Last August 7 friends and I hired Mongolia Expeditions to guide us on the climb of one of National Geographic's top 10 climbs in the world, Khuiten. All of the staff from ME was awesome.

What surprised me was not only how beautiful Mongolia was, and it was beautiful, but how friendly and welcoming the Mongolian people were, beginning with Aldra and the rest of the ME team. They managed every detail from the moment we landed in Ulaanbatar until we flew out again two weeks later.

We had a couple of hiccups in logistics which they quickly overcame and had us back on schedule and into the park to see the amazing glacier and eventually climb 3 of the 5 saints. I hope that in my lifetime I am able to carve out time to come back and see Mongolia again and partake in another expedition.

When I do it will be with this team. I'm proud of what they're doing for the Mongolian mountaineering and adventure communities and truly grateful they were able to share their amazing country with us.

“Khuiten expedition. Amazing time. I had the best time with Mongolia Expeditions. Spent 12 days between UB and Khuiten, in Russian heels, backpacking, camels taking our equipment, Russian airplanes, airports without lights, crossing rivers and getting stuck .. a true adventure, not for everyone but certainly amazing.

The crew was fantastic. The food simply amazing. Would do it again anytime. The country is the most fascinating. I truly enjoyed the culture and the traditions. Got to hold a golden eagle, sleep on a glaciar and climb a mountain in the border of Mongolia, Russia and China. What else could I ask for?! The stories will be told for a very long time. Pricing is the best money for value, and you are helping a local company. Wouldn't go with anyone else.

“Schitour zum Khuiten April 2017” Einer meiner besten Reisen. Perfekt organisiert !!! Speziell der Fahrer war ein Könner seines Fachs. Bekocht wurden wir in einem 5 Star Haubenlokal; Tucson ist Weltklasse !! werde sicher wieder kommen

I used Mongolia Expeditions three times in three years for climbing high mountain in Mongolia including Mt.khuitn(highest mountain in Mongolia). Mongolia expedition arranged my climbing perfectly. I succeeded in climbing all three mountains.

Excellent mountaineering trip in Mongolia.  I joined Mongolia Expeditions for a 17 days trip in Western Mongolia. The mail goal was Mt Khuiten, but also two other peaks nearby and some trekking was included. The guides, kitchen staff and porters were very enthusiastic, service minded and helpful.

I lost my bag for several days on an Aeroflot plane, but they manage to supply me with another clothes and mountain gear to a very low cost. Thus I avoided to cancel the trip. Extremely good food provided by the kitchen staff under basic conditions in a tent. You will also experience traditional Mongolian culture and cuisine during the trip. If you are planning to do some trekking and mountaineering in Mongolia, I will recommend Mongolia Expeditions.

 An Absolutely Epic Experience by Mongolia Expeditions!

To provide some context, I’ve traveled to over 200 countries and every continent and consider myself as someone with extremely high expectations when it comes to the quality of service and professionalism I demand from the tour operators I work with and I spend a tremendous amount of time extensively researching all options. 

From start to finish, Mongolia Expeditions truly went above and beyond and EXCEEDED my expectations in every possible way and I recommend them with the highest level of confidence and enthusiasm. I can state without hesitation that their execution of every aspect of our expedition was FLAWLESS. Given the length of our trip, great distances we covered and wide range of activities we undertook, this is a HUGE statement. I’m not someone who is easily impressed and I consider them to be one of the most tour professional and high quality companies I’ve ever partnered with. I researched a ton of tour companies specializing in Mongolia located across the US, Europe and locally in Mongolia and I’d say without hesitation that there is absolutely no way you be able to achieve the level of service, local expertise, client experience and value that Mongolia Expeditions (ME) provides. 

Do NOT waste your money booking with tour companies located in your home country, who essentially are “middlemen” that end up sourcing from local experts like Mongolia Expeditions. Hands down, book directly with the experts themselves! We were treated like true VIPs every single moment of our trip.

Mongolia Expeditions organized an extensive 2.5 week trip for myself and two friends which included:

·         Climbing Mt Khuiten

·         Ulgii

·         Naadam Festival

·         Kharkhorin / Erdenzuu Monestary / Khustai National Park

·         Ulaanbaatar 

PLANNING AND LOGISTICS - I worked with Dashka on planning every aspect of our expeditions. For months, I easily sent Dashka hundreds of emails riddled with countless bulleted questions, which he kindly answered with the patience of a saint. I sometimes wondered if he ever slept given how incredibly responsive he was despite the time difference. All of his responses were extremely detailed and clearly indicative of his tremendous expertise and knowledge. Dashka clearly knew what I valued as a client and I really appreciated the level of detail he provided every step of the way. He painstakingly developed an incredibly customized itinerary to meet every single need and desire I had. He is simply amazing and ultimately gave us a once in a life time experience we will never forget. 

What really stood out to me was that the domestic airline made a last minute change to their summer schedule which threw our original Mt Khuiten plans into disarray. As you can imagine this can be an extremely stressful situation. Dashka came to the rescue and immediately had crafted two incredible itinerary options for our group to choose from despite the logistical complications that it would involve to accommodate the new flight schedules which required flying to different cities. Only someone with a high level of local knowledge and expertise could problem solve this situation this quickly. I can only imagine what a nightmare it would be if I would have been dealing with a middleman tour operator located in the US/Europe who wasn’t on the ground and trying to work as a third party with a local tour company to resolve issues and knew nothing about the local market themselves! 

TRANSFERS - Impeccable. Every transfer at the airports, hotels, restaurants, etc were flawless. The vehicles they provide were luxurious and immaculate. I’m used to having to run around airports checking in etc. and I’ve never had a more leisurely and pleasurable experience in airports in my life thanks to ME! After being whisked away in a luxurious vehicle and simply handing over my passport, absolutely EVERYTHING was taken care of and all I had to do was chat with my friends while Dashka and his team did everything. 

MT KHUITEN - Perfection. If you’re interested in any kind of climbing, mountain trekking (even if it’s not climbing to the summit of Mt Khuiten like we did), I can’t emphasize enough the importance of booking with a true expert in this area like Mongolian Expeditions. This became painfully clear when we were on the ground and I had the opportunity to speak with a number of other tourists we ran into on the way who had booked with other operators who we felt really bad for as they were having a horrible experience. 

Mongolian Expeditions guides are the “celebrity” most well-known and most experienced guides in the country. Sainaa and Tino were our guides. Sainaa, for example, is a judge for an annual ice climbing even they have at Mt Khuiten and Tino is a nationally ranked snowboarder and even skydived at the opening ceremony of the Naadam Festival! 

When we were climbing on the glacier it became abundantly clear what the “pecking order” was. Sainaa was my private guide and it was clear that the guides of the other climbing teams deferred to him and didn’t feel comfortable leading and were following him on the glacier to see what route he was taking. Why on earth would you book with other companies who have guides are inexperienced like that?! At base camp, I even spoke with a couple from Virginia who were planning on climbing to the summit and their guide was totally clueless, didn’t take them to the second high camp which they weren’t even aware of! They felt entirely in the dark, didn’t get debriefed on anything and their entire trip was ruined. They had been planning and dreaming of going to the summit of Mt Khuiten for years and in an instant, booking with the wrong company and getting the wrong guide ruined it all. I felt so bad for them. When i was telling them about my guide, my trip, our plan, etc, they were infuriated at how well coordinated it was and how little they were told. Their process and experience was NOTHING close to ours AND they paid more!

Mongolian Expeditions treats you like true VIPs, not only do you get nationally ranked mountain guides that are at the top of the industry, they also provide an English speaking translator guide to accompany you the entire time to facilitate ever aspect of the trip. It was incredible - his nickname was Eric and he was such a joy to be with. He facilitated every aspect of our Mt Khuiten climb - even helped the other tourists that they other companies didn’t take care of!

Eric truly cared about maximizing our experience and after we successfully summited Mt Khuiten, he recommended that we ride horses along the White River valley. We weren’t aware of this option and even though it was a longer route and would be more physically demanding for him since he would be walking as we were riding, he still suggested which speaks volumes about his intentions and desire to provide the best possible client experience. He encouraged us to do it to see new landscapes and a different experience and he was 100% right! It was an absolutely incredible experience we will never forget and we are so grateful to him for recommending and making it happen!

ULGII / KHUISTAI NATIONAL PARK - We also did a wonderful tour of Ulgii with Erik. He not only took us to all of the sites, but it was so special when he took us to the school where he teaches. We also visited Khustai National Park to see the wild horses. Once again witnessing a huge difference between Mongolian Expeditions and other tour companies. We heard that it was very difficult to actually see the wild horses in the national park given the vast size of the park. In addition, we came at the peak heat of the day when they tend not to be visible so we didn’t expect to see much. When we arrived and started driving around the park we saw several other tour company vehicles. Our driver, who was amazing, stopped at one of the lookout points and we noticed that the other tour companies followed us and stopped as well. They lingered for a few minutes and impatiently left. Our driver on the other hand, confidently pointed his finger to the ridge and stated that a herd of wild horses was there. As someone with horrible eye sight, even with the binoculars they provided, I couldn’t see any, so I was skeptical when they asked if we could walk towards the top of the ridge. But I trusted them so we agreed. The driver led us up the ridge and after a robust hike up to the top, our jaws dropped when we were rewarded with a huge herd of wild horses! It was absolutely incredible and I was just in awe that he was able to locate that herd for us! We spent a wonderful amount of time just sitting on the ledge observing them and taking wonderful photos as they grazed - it was magical. When we returned back down all we could do was feel sorry for the other tourists who never got to see anything. The same vehicles passed us again and reported they saw NOTHING. Once again CLEAR difference in what happens when you book with the wrong company and how this can make or break your entire experience. We were swooning about what a magical place the national experience was and the other tourists were driving off with sour faces, disappointed.

DRIVERS - ROCK STARS I really think this deserves a major shout out. When traveling overland in Mongolia, you’ll realize that the roads can be extremely challenging as infrastructure is not necessarily built out in the remote areas. Mongolia Expedition drivers were absolutely INCREDIBLE! We distances we covered overland were huge and you’d think just statistically that something would have to go wrong, but everything was FLAWLESS and we attribute it entirely to their level of professionality and preparedness. ME’s vehicles are amazing and every morning the vehicles were immaculate. 

Once again the HUGE difference between tour companies becomes apparent again once we were on the ground. While our drivers were navigating the treacherous off roading required where there were massively flooded areas, other vehicles were stopped on the roadside not knowing where to go and how to navigate the areas and had to ask OUR driver what to do!! Again, this can make or break your entire experience. We never skipped a beat. Not once. That’s a huge huge huge statement, knowing the thousands of kilometers we covered and how treacherous the roads were. We were just in awe of our drivers skills and expertise and labeled them jedi masters of driving! This is the level of expertise you want on your expedition - not other companies where you’re stuck on the side of the road wasting your time and ruining your entire schedule asking for help!

NAADAM FESTIVAL - VIP EXPERIENCE! I’ve been dreaming about attending the Naadam festival for years and I felt like a VIP with Mongolia Expeditions. Our guide was amazing and was grateful for all of his expertise which really made a huge difference. For example, when we attended the military parade, he knew exactly where we should stand for the best view. We had the best tickets in the stadium in UB. The driver and guide strategically knew exactly when the best time was to leave UB to drive out to the horse racing field so we were able to avoid the insane traffic gridlock where we would’ve just sat for HOURS! We sat in the VIP area where the journalists and photographers were right at the finish line which was amazing and they even bought us blankets to stay warm.

GUIDES - TRUE EXPERTS!!! Every guide we had was incredible. They were professors and extremely knowledgeable and passionate about sharing this knowledge with others. As you can imagine, you end up spending a lot of time with your guide so I loved that they were also such a joy to be around and it was like spending time with a friend. Client experience is clearly their number one priority and they continually went above and beyond to make sure that every need was met. We felt so cared for nurtured every moment of our trip - again being treated like VIPs the entire time.

ULAANBAATAR - Again, total VIP experience. Chauffeured throughout the city in a luxury vehicle with an amazing guide who catered to all of our needs and desires. We were taken to the best restaurants for every meal and the guide’s knowledge was truly encyclopedic.

SUMMARY

I normally don’t take this much time to write reviews, but Mongolia Expeditions absolutely deserves all the kudos in the world for the level of incredible service they provide. As I mentioned, I’m a highly demanding client and I hope that this saves others a lot of groundwork researching companies. I guarantee that Mongolia Expeditions will exceed your expectations. They are truly fantastic and experts and you shouldn’t waste your time with any other company. I plan on returning in the future and can’t wait to partner with them again.