Khüiten Peak

Where is Khüiten Peak?

Khüiten Peak is part of the Altai, Tavan Bogd massif.

You will find it in: Mongolia.

Summit: 49.146° N, 87.819° E

The story behind it

Khüiten is one of the five summits of Tavan Bogd, a name that means the five saints. Mongolians call it Khüiten Uul, cold mountain, and in China the same peak is known as Friendship Peak. Its slopes feed the Potanin Glacier, about 14 kilometres long and the longest glacier in Mongolia. The exact height is not settled: older Soviet survey maps give 4 374 metres while newer sources list 4 356 metres, and both numbers are still in print. The spot where Russia, Mongolia and China actually meet sits on a neighbouring summit roughly two and a half kilometres to the north. Getting there is half the adventure: climbers fly to the town of Ölgii, bounce along dirt tracks by jeep, then load their gear onto horses or camels for the last stretch to base camp. This corner of Mongolia is home to Kazakh families who hunt with trained golden eagles.

Find it on the globe

Khüiten Peak is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.