Hi all,

As the headline states, I'm a complete newbie to mountain climbing - I've done quite a bit of hiking through some rough Australian terrain and a little easy climbing (never needed any gear) but otherwise have no experience.

As some back story, I'm a 23 hr old female, with a pretty low fitness level in general (also about 10-15 kg over my ideal weight). I live in North Queensland, Australia and I'd like to get fit next year. That being said, I need to set my self an achievable goal that will actually motivate me to keep working or I'll just lose motivation again. I love adventure And what little climbing I've done has been awesome (climbed every hill/mountain around where I live) so I thought I'd plan a mountain climbing holiday for the end-ish of 2016.

My first plan was to climb Mt Khuiten in Mongolia. I'm open to suggestions if there's easier mountains, but I'd like something with a challenge - helps that I've always wanted to go to Mongolia (I'm a horse fan, love the culture). Can I get fit enough before August to climb this mountain? Would you recommend it? Will my complete lack of mountaineering skills be an issue (I can do some rock climbing in qld, but a mountaineering course will be an extra $2500 that I don't have.

So all up, my questions are;
Mt Khuiten, achievable?
What fitness level do I need to reach?
How would you suggest best reaching that level?
Are there any recommendations for guide/tour groups?
If no, where else?
What would you budget for this kind of trip?

Thanks

I'm not located in Australia or Mongolia, and I also have not been to either of those locales, so take my response with a grain of salt.

According to the descriptions on the Mount Khüiten page, this mountain requires a fairly significant pack-in to the base, heavy glacier travel, high potential for cold temperatures, and a fairly significant acceptance of risk (since help is so far away). Certainly this would not be a mountain to attempt to climb without a guide, unless you had a fair amount of experience in all of these areas. The most telling part of the entire description of this peak is the Gear section, which says:

Standard glacier travel and cold weather gear. The gear list should be identical to what one would bring on a climb of Mt. Rainier’s DC route.

The Rainier DC route is considered a fairly straight-forward route for a glaciated peak in the Pacific Northwest, but new climbers in this area typically work up to it by first trying Mount Hood, Mount Adams, or Mount Baker first. Mountaineering clubs and groups are a great way to get into climbing without getting in over your head; they typically provide classes and instruction on the proper techniques and knowledge required in order to be safe in the mountains.

My overall take-away is that you should try to get a little bit more knowledge, potentially some experience (understanding yourself in the mountains is a great skill to have), and certainly speak to guiding companies that operate in the Altai Mountain range to get an idea of what level of experience they expect for their clients. Happy climbing!

It occurs to me that for your first climb, choosing a peak in Mongolia seems like an odd choice. The investment in time and expense for travel and guiding seems excessive for a beginner. I would suggest that you plan a trip to New Zealand, where you can climb a non-technical peak or two without a guide (maybe), and also climb a glaciated peak to practice your technical skills as well as your stamina at altitude and evaluate your cold weather gear.
As far as conditioning goes, you should be able to get into reasonable mountaineering condition within 6 months of weekly conditioning. (Here in Portland we define a conditioning hike to be a hike of at least 10 miles with 3000 feet or more of elevation gain.) You will be in condition when you can do this with a 35lb pack and it feels "merely routine" on the mountaineer's scale of physical abuse.

First of all, getting fit is the easiest part, as long as you're committed. Most importantly you need endurance, and that requires cardio exercise. Even if you don't want to go to a gym, you can go cycling, running or swimming, or mix it up. There's a ton of training schedules to be found on the internet. Here is one in case you want to start running, but you can just pick anyone that you like and that really gets your heart pumping.

From a motivational point of view, the problem is that the first few weeks are the hardest. You don't feel that you're doing much, you don't see immediate results, and yet your muscles ache. Keep it up, and it will get better. With regular training your muscles will start liking it, and after a while the first results become visible. The first couple of months are to lay the ground work. After that, it's time to look for a more strenuous schedule. If you choose running, work up to a point where you can run one hour three times a week and you're in business. You can just run at a constant speed, or do intervals.


I agree with nicozone that, as Khuïten is a glaciated mountain, you'll need a whole lot more experience to climb it unguided.

Yury wrote:MissBillie92,
Just call the guiding company and ask them.
I suspect that their answer would be "Yes".

If 70 y.o. Japanise ladies can climb Mt. Elbrus (with one to one guides to clients ratio), why can't you climb Mt. Khüiten?

The thing with asking a guiding company is that they are not really objective; they need clients, so it's in their own interest to say you can do it. Good guiding companies will ask you about your experience, and won't take you on a trip that's way too hard, but others will. It would be a shame to go to Mongolia and find out that you're in over your head. They'll get you off the mountain again, but then you've paid a whole lot of money to find out you should have done something easier first.

Fortunately, New Zealand isn't all that far away. So, as nicozone wrote, see if you can join a local mountaineering club. In particular one that does trips to New Zealand, including some easy glacier travel. Once you've got a bit more experience you can go to Mongolia in the knowledge that you are capable of climbing something like Kuïten.

MissBillie,

I'm in Australia. Mountaineering in NZ is actually pretty serious and it might be good to spend a few days in the Australian backcountry in winter to see how you like it. There are plenty of places between Guthega and Mt Kosciusko to practice crampon and axe work, before worrying about crevasses etc. I go down a few times each year and I think it's underrated training.

Try contacting the Australian section of the NZAC: https://www.facebook.com/NZAC-Australia ... 5/?fref=ts as they might organise some weekends.

HOWEVER: booking trips to the Aust Alps ahead of time, hoping for nice ice and snow and clear weather, is asking for trouble. I'm only 3hrs from the snow so I can go with the weather, but try to be as flexible as possible so you don't spend your whole time off sitting in a tent in wet snow.

I don't think Khuiten is such a difficult climb, and if you're keen on Mongolia then go for it. But other places have nice easy peaks too, like Ladakh in India ( I was there last July) and Bolivia. Both places are easier to safely and reliably climb high snowy mountains than Nepal, for instance.

If you want more info on training in Australia or otherwise, look me up on Facebook.

Khuiten is an interesting choice for a beginner. While I don't think it would be too difficult as long as you have a guide and/or take preparations seriously. Be fit and more importantly, take the right gear and know how to use it to stay warm, dry and oriented.

By the way, in May 2012 I was on south shore of Kanas Lake which can be used as approach for Khuiten from Chinese side. Unfortunately timing and snow conditions weren't in my favor. Last October I was starting to plan a trip from Mongolia side but got diverted. I might try again this year or next. After living in Asia for 8 years, I still haven't visited to Mongolia. I'll fix that soon.

Id be trying our mountainous neighbours before mongolia

NZ -Taranaki ,Ruepahu, Ball Pass
Indonesia (Activity permitting ) Rinjani, Agung, Bromo Merbabu
Malaysia - Kinabalu