SJS Student Summits Malchin Peak

St. John’s School sophomore Elisabeth Marek has always been an avid hiker, and this past summer her newest adventure was hiking to the peak of the Malchin Mountain in Mongolia. 

She began her journey on June 6 riding on horseback to reach the foot of the mountain. After four hours she reached basecamp along with her mom and the rest of their hiking crew. The day after arriving at base camp it was raining so hard that the view of the mountains was completely obstructed, so Elisabeth and her team decided that it would be best to postpone the hiking for one day. 

The first leg of her journey was from base camp up to a glacier. To climb the glacier Elisabeth had to get all geared up using harnesses and rope and walk in a single file line. The first leg of the glacier climb was easy for the hikers, no wind, no snow, and not steep. Halfway through the glacier they got caught in a harsh snow storm. Battling through the painful wind and snow, Elisabeth reached the place the group was camping for the night. 

The next morning, Elisabeth awoke to her tent being caved in from all the snow. They left at around 2 p.m. to start the trek to Malchin Peak. The strong mountain wind almost knocked her over on several occasions. The high altitude also made breathing very difficult and required the hikers to take many small rest breaks. 

When she finally reached the top, the pain from the hiking made it difficult to fully take in the accomplishment that she had hiked a 13,500 ft. mountain. The way down the mountain was harder than the way up due to the slick ice. After an hour and a half down from the peak she arrived back at the camp.

Elisabeth learned from her hiking experience that she can deal with almost anything. This trip was one of the most fun and interesting experiences for Elisabeth, and she learned so much about herself and hiking. Elisabeth definitely wants to climb more mountains, but she was extremely happen to arrive back in the Houston heat compared to the Mongolian blizzards.