Otgontenger national park

Mount Otgontenger is the highest peak of the Khangai Range. It’s located in the province of Zavkhan, East Uliastai. In 1992, the Mongolian government delimited a strictly-protected area around the peak. This area covers an area of 1055 square kilometres (407 square miles). Specialists are not in agreement about its altitude. Until today, you could see on most of the maps, that the mount was 4021 metres (2,5 miles) above the sea level. Today the surveyors agree that the height is 4008 metres (2,49 miles).

Mount Otgontenger is the only peak of the Khangai Range that is covered with a permanent glacier. The Southern face of the mount is composed of the largest granite wall of all the country. At the foot of the mountain, we find Lake Badarkhundaga.

Mount Otgontenger is part of the three most sacred summits of the country, and it’s strictly forbidden for women to climb it. According to the Mongolian traditional beliefs, angry gods live in the sacred mountains of Mongolia. God Ochirvaani is reported as living in Mount Otgontenger.

In August 2002, a decree from the Ministry of Nature and Environment forbad to climb the mount, because of the growing decreasing of the perpetual snow.