Flashes of the Altai

Three childhood friends set out for the far western corner of Mongolia to combine mountain biking and packrafting in a self-supported adventure into the unknown. Never having attempted a mountain bike to packraft link-up, they decided it was a great idea to travel to one of the most remote and sparsely populated places in the world to try it out. The goal was to traverse the Mongolian Altai, a remote range of high glaciated peaks with silt-laden rivers draining from their heights. The only inhabitants of the region are Kazakh nomads, the last people on earth who continue the tradition of hunting with golden eagles. Ancient standing stones carved over the millennia stand guard over the landscape. Twelve days in the wilderness, riding over high passes loaded with gear, surviving raging whitewater, drinking fermented mare’s milk, and battling the elements, this was not an adventure these young lads would soon forget.