The Mongolian Mountains

Much of the country’s territory is mountainous. There are three major mountain ranges: the Mongol Altai, Khangai, and Khentii.
The highest and the longest range is westernmost, the Mongol Altai Mountains, which sweeps in from the northwestern tip of the country and thrusts toward the southeast for 600-650 kilometers. The Mongol Altai is mainly composed of Rocky Mountains and there are many glaciers along high ridges.
There are number of clean water lakes along the range and hundreds of streams in the valleys. Some of the largest rivers in the country including Khovd, Buyant and Bulgan are made up hundreds of small springs of the Altai Range.
The Mongol Altai has many summits reaching 4000meters above sea level. Over 20 peaks are capped with eternal snow in the Altai Mountain Range. These include Tavan Bogd’s Khuiten Peak (4374meters), the highest point in Mongolia. A smaller range splitting off to the southeast is the Gobi Altai sub-mountain range. Its southeastern extremities also split into a number of smaller hills, disappearing in the expanses of Gobi.

The Khangai Mountains form a solid mountain mass in the central part of Mongolia. Its highest peak is Otgon Tenger (4021meters). A characteristic feature of this area is the gentle slopes and crests often covered with fine pastures.

The Khangai Mountains are the largest of the three major mountain ranges. It extends 800 kilometers from the west to the east. The Khangai Mountains landscape is different from the Altai Mountains. While high rocky cliffs and deep basins are dominant in both Mongol Altai and Gobi Altai, the Khangai Mountain Range is featured by broad, warped dome-shaped mountains covered with grass and trees. The area encompasses several natural zones including mountain and mountain steppe zone, Siberian taiga and forest. Fertile soil and numerous rivers, streams and lakes support a variety of plants and the area habitat to a huge array of animal species.
The great divide, separating waters that flow into the oceans and into the interior basins, runs along the crestof the Khangai Mountains. Mongolia’s greatest river, the Selenge with its main tributary, the Orkhon, drains northward the Russian border and into Lake Baikal. The rivers running along the crest of Khangai Mountains are swift and rapids in the rivers result in picturesque waterfalls such as Orkhon Waterfall with a height of 20 meters, locally known as Ulaan Tsutgalan.
The third mountain block is the Khentii Mountain Range.It is smaller and lower than the Altai and Khangai Mountain Ranges. The Khentii Mountain Range starts from just east of Ulaanbaatar and stretches to the great eastern plains. There are several peaks that rise above 2500 meters above sea level, with the highest one being Asralt Khairkhan which keeps ancient mountain glacial traces. The Khentii Mountains are covered by forests, wetlands, alpine tundra and permanent snow and ice fields; the core of this remote wildness area is totally uninhabited.