Natural Heritage · Natural site
Yolyn Am
A deep, narrow gorge in the Gobi mountains where an ice field forms each winter, named after the lammergeier.
- Location
- Ömnögovi aimag
- Type
- Natural site
- Key Fact
- Ice field in the desert
About the Site
Yolyn Am is a gorge in the Zuun Saikhan range of the Gurvan Saikhan mountains, within Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park. Its name means roughly "Lammergeier Valley", after the bearded vulture, called yol in Mongolian.
Despite the dry desert around it, the gorge holds an ice field that grows several metres thick and several kilometres long by the end of winter. It once lasted all year; in recent years it has largely melted by September.
What to See
- The walk into the narrow upper gorge and the ice field
- Birds of prey: lammergeier, Himalayan and cinereous vultures, and Altai snowcock
- Argali, Siberian ibex and the many pika near the ice
Visiting
- Reached by a paved road from Dalanzadgad.
- Go in late spring or early summer to see the ice before it melts.
Also in the Region
Gobi
Natural site
Khongoryn Els
The great dune field of the southern Gobi, up to 80 metres high and known for the sound of its moving sand.
Late Cretaceous fossils
Flaming Cliffs
Red sandstone cliffs in the Gobi, famous for the first discovery of dinosaur eggs, made by Roy Chapman Andrews's expeditions in the 1920s.