A memorable road trip to Tolbo Lake

Tolbo Lake is a high mountain fresh water lake at an elevation of 2.080m (6,824ft) above the sea level, located in western Mongolia.

Tolbo Lake

The road to the lake is asphalted. It’s called AH4 and links Ölgii and Khovd City. Located on the centre of the province of Bayan-Ölgii, the lake extends on 185 square kilometres (71,43 miles) in the heart of the Altai range Most of the people go there in mid-july because the water at that time is the warmest. 

It has a well-deserved reputation for being dangerous because of unpredictable snowstorms and blizzards, and driving under these conditions, can be extremely challenging. The road that leads there passes along glaciers and, in winter, it’s possible to move on the iced lake. The west side of the lake has numerous inlets and peninsulas. The lake is frozen from October to May. It is subject to winter snowfalls with such a high summit altitude, and the road can be closed anytime when the access is not cleared of snow. The lake was the site of the Battle of Tolbo Lake (1921) during the Russian Civil War.

 

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