Fly Fishing Mongolia

Lake Khovsgol Ice Festival

Winter in Mongolia is an incredible adventure.  Temperatures can plummet to below -40C, yet life for the hardy nomads continues.  Living in their cozy felt-insulated gers (yurts), and dressed in sheepskin robes the nomads are able to tend to their herds through the harsh winter.  

Our adventurous winter expedition takes us to the Khovsgol region, Mongolia's most northerly province, bordering Siberia.   Here we will travel by horse sled to the Ice Festival, a mid-winter celebration held on the ice of Lake Khovsgol.  We will also explore the wild winter landscape, and visit nomads at their winter encampments.

Fly Fishing Mongolia - Mongolia! A magical land of blue skies, vast landscapes and enduring nomads; encompassing the austere deserts of the Gobi, wild Taiga forests, the lofty peaks of the Altai, and boundless steppes.  

An extraordinary country, Mongolia has vast tracts of wilderness; forests, mountains and desert. Most can be described as a 'wilderness with people' for you are never far from a nomad camp.  We meet the nomads on the trail: men off to cut hay for their winter camps; whole families moving pasture, all their belongings loaded on a caravan of camels; and reindeer herders at their tepee encampments.

Let us take you to visit our nomad friends and explore off the beaten track in Mongolia's wilderness.

Heated tents and Traditional Mongolian gers (yurts)

We specialize in organizing treks and expeditions to the wild lands of Mongolia's north: our trips are led by experienced international or Mongolian guides, and are professionally outfitted to a high standard, using the best quality equipment, with good cooks and quality food. On all our trips the adventure and experience of traveling in Mongolia and meeting the nomads is as important as the activity itself.  

Our international guides have spent several winters in Mongolia, including considerable time living and traveling in the countryside, so along with our local guides who have lived all their lives in this rugged environment, we have a great deal of experience of winter conditions and logistics in Mongolia.

February 13th to 24th 2006

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The Ice Festival

Flying from Ulaanbaatar to the regional centre of Muren, we will then drive to the village of Khatgal at the southern end of Lake Khovsgol.   Khatgal is a village of log cabins, with a population of around 3000.  We will stay in gers at a camp on the shores of the lake.  The next day we will begin our two-day journey by horse sled to the ice festival.  The festival is usually held around 40 or 50 miles north of Khatgal, in the middle of the frozen lake.  

Horse sleds are traditional winter transport on the lake, now typically used for hauling firewood to the nomad’s gers; but years ago huge convoys of supplies from Russia were transported over the lake by sled to Khatgal.  Wrapped in a sheepskin, traveling by horse sled is a wonderful way to experience the icy landscape.  The sleds will be driven by a local guide, and we will have our support vehicle following our convoy.  Overnight we will stay in gers, and keep warm around the wood burning stove.

The ice festival itself includes a mix of traditional and modern winter events, including ice skating races, ice sumo and tug-o-war, driving skills competition, and horse sled races.  The sled races are the highlight of the festival, and the horses are fitted with spiked shoes to help them run on the ice; most likely our local guides will be racing the horses and sleds that we traveled up to the festival with.  But apart from the events it is an opportunity for locals to meet and exchange new year greetings, and to provide a break from the tough routine of winter life.

After the festival we will drive across the lake to see the ice formations on the island, and visit nomad families at their winter camps to witness how these hardy nomads and their herds survive the tough winters in this remote corner of Mongolia.   If snow conditions permit, we will travel through the forest on the eastern side of the lake to the hot springs for a welcome soak in blissful warmth of the rustic spring fed hot tubs.