Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

September 3, 2024

2268m

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tsetsee Gun is the highest peak on Bogd Khan to the immediate south of Ulaanbaatar and this is the only P600m objective in the immediate vicinity of the capital. I noticed this objective because of its prominence and sure enough, our friends who had visited Mongolia for peak-bagging purposes had the same thoughts. A few of them did the longer hike from Ulaanbaatar to the north but Deividas found the shortest way and that was from Zuunmod to the south. Petter and I managed to convince Gangaa to add this bonus peak into the itinerary because we finished all the other peaks at least one day earlier than planned. We earned ourselves one full day in the capital and the plan was to hike up Tsetsee Gun to make use of that. I never liked the idea of having a “rest day” on a trip like this.

The shorter southern approach required a much longer driving detour including dealing with the horrendous traffic in the city, so Gangaa proposed that we should leave the hotel at 6 am and we agreed. The weather was supposed to turn in the afternoon anyway. The true summit required some exposed 3rd class scrambling so we definitely wanted to do that in dry conditions. Gangaa showed up on time and we made to the trail-head in about an hour. The roads were entirely paved and I was already NOT used to that anymore after spending over a month in Mongolia.

I knew the majority of this hike would be done in the forest but I underestimated how boring this hike would be. If not because of the fun summit block challenge this would be a classic P600m “trash bagging” in my home region. There was a trail for the entire way, but the condition of this trail was terrible with hundreds of dead-falls and plenty of swampy areas. It was almost impossible to keep our shoes dry and if we really wanted the shoes to be dry we would have to make some additional bushwhacking by staying on top of the dead-falls while making detours. I sort of gave up on staying dry but I never got my shoes thoroughly soaked. We also lost the trail for about a kilometer distance on the ascent but we had Deividas’ GPX track handy so never went too far off. Thankfully the summit itself was rather interesting with 2 competing towers that were only 30 cm apart in height (according to our friends who did the hand level survey). That was too close for comfort so we did both, and both required similar scrambling on somewhat exposed terrain. I also added the NW bonus summit for fun.

I was not impressed by this outing so I made Petter to stay ahead on the descent. I simply turned off my brain and followed from behind, but we still had to make numerous corrections in the forest. The trail was easy to lose and the boggy section was extremely annoying. We finished the round trip in just over 4 hours. Gangaa was patiently waiting for us at the parking lot and we immediately drove back to the city afterwards. Gangaa and Serang came back at dinner time and took us to a nice restaurant for a farewell dinner. This was the end of the 34-day “big trip” between Petter and myself. Petter would leave tomorrow for 5 days of peak-bagging in China while I would fly back to Olgii with Gangaa to attempt the final two “ultra prominent peaks” in western Mongolia.