Dick Cable/Sue Lach
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
SUMMARY OF TRIP INFORMATION
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
Leader Dick Cable
Co-leader Sue Lach
Mongolia
9-24-2011 to 10-4-2011
Total # of days 11
Hiking
Downhill skiing
Kayaking
Title of trip
Leadership
Location(s)
Dates
Type of trip
check all that apply
Backpacking
Cultural
Road biking
Nordic ski
Mountain biking
Snorkeling
Other – please describe
Horseback riding and camping
Number of participants
(excluding leaders)
Advertised cost
Airfare range if not included
Do you wish to have your trip
listed online before it is
published in The Outdoors?
Smaller trips and leader
subsidization
Max 14
Min 10
$ 3750
Does it include airfare? Yes
No
$ 1800-2000
Yes
No If yes, please list the approximate month (max is one year in
advance of trip)
a full one year in advance including in the AMC Outdoors Sept. 10 edition
Is this proposal for a small group trip – i.e., less than 14 participants and 2
leaders or 7 participants and 1 leader? Yes
No
If yes, why is a small group proposed?
If a participant fee increase of more than 15% is proposed, please explain
why? no
LEADER AND CO-LEADER INFORMATION
Leader name
Leader address
Leader email
Leader phone
Wilderness first aid training
CPR training
Prior leading experience
Trip one
Trip two
Trip three
Other related trip experience
Co-leader name
Dick Cable
8 Heather Lane, Burlington, CT 06013
r.cable@sbcglobal.net
Home 860-673-1940
Work
WFA
AWFA
WFR
Expiration: 4-2012
CPR
BLS
Expiration: 2-2011
Please list the last three longer (5+ day) trips you have led for the AMC including
destination, type of trip, dates and number of participants. Feel free to list additional
trips you have led, particularly if they demonstrate experience related to the trip you
are proposing.
Sicily: pede, pedale e pasta 4-2010 [leader]
Expedition Mongolia 9-2009 [co-leader]
Yosemite Dayhiking 6-2008 [co-leader]
Sue Lach

To lead a major excursion you must have current CPR and WFA at the time of your trip (or AWFA for all backcountry
trips). If you do not have the required level of certification at the time you submit your proposal or it will expire before
the date of your trip, you will need to make arrangements to recertify in a timely manner.
Revised October 2009
Major Excursions Trip Proposal Form, page 1 of 7
Dick Cable/Sue Lach
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
Co-leader address
Co-leader email
Co-leader phone
Wilderness first aid training*
CPR training*
Prior leading experience
Trip one
Trip two
Trip three
Other related trip experience
73 Amherst Drive, Manchester, CT
suelach@sbcglobal.net
Home 860-533-0219
Work
WFA
AWFA
WFR
Expiration: 5-2011
CPR
BLS
Expiration:
If you are a new co-leader you must submit an application to be a major excursions
leader or co-leader prior to submitting this application.
Expedition Mongolia 9-2009
Yoseminte Dayhiking 6-2008
New Zealand and Belize
Scouting
Have either of you led this trip
before or traveled to this
area?
Languages
Does either the co-leader or
leader speak the local
language?
Couples
Do the leader and co-leader
have a significant personal
relationship?
Private trips
Do either of you lead trips that
are private - not sponsored by
the AMC?
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below:
Both leader and co-leader have led a trip to Mongolia in 2009. This trip will take us to
another part of Mongolia not visited on the previous trip.
Executive summary
Please provide a brief
description of the trip and the
activities planned.
This trip will consist of 11 days. It will commence in Ulaanbaatar. We will fly from UB
to Olgii in far western Mongolia. We will explore Altai Tavan Bogd on a two day
horseback trek. Then we will attend a two day Eagle Festival as part of the historical
legend of falconry in Western Mongolia. We will fly back to UB for a folklore
perfomance and farewell dinner before our flight back to the United States
Co-leader: Yes
No
Leader: Yes
No
Not applicable:
Yes
No
If yes, please list who has agreed to be your back-up in case one or
both of you need to drop out. This is required for approval!
Yes
No
If yes, please note that you cannot advertise AMC and private trips
together unless there is a clear distinction between the two in any marketing
materials you send out.
LOGISTICAL DETAILS OF TRIP
Accommodations
Please describe your plan for
accommodation(s)
(See attached itinerary for day to day activities)
The first and last night will be spent in a hotel in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The
rest of the trip will be tent and ‘ger’ camping and a home stay. While they vary (often
year to year) in quality and service, all ger camps have the same basic format. You sleep
in gers, the felt covered round tents of Mongolia’s nomads, which have 2-4 beds, a table
and a wood stove. A hot water thermos is available and sometimes you get tea bags as
well. There is a bathhouse which always has sinks and showers and sometimes a sauna.
Toilets may be incorporated into the bathhouse and flush with varying efficiency. Or
toilets may be in a separate building or of the outhouse variety. Also present will be a
large kitchen/dining hall, sometimes a newly constructed building, other times a
converted structure, and often a giant ger-like structure.
All in all ger camps are comfortable, relaxed, and offer a good break from homestays or
camping while traveling cross country. The following offers addition information
pertaining to gers:
What is a ger?
It’s a portable round house uniquely suited to the Mongolian nomadic lifestyle, and the
Mongolian climate. It’s warm in winter and cool in summer oweing to the excellent
Revised October 2009
Major Excursions Trip Proposal Form, page 2 of 7
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
Dick Cable/Sue Lach
insulation properties of the felt and canvas walls.The ger consists of a circular wooden
frame carrying a felt cover. The frame consists of one or more lattice wall-sections, a
door-frame, roof poles and a crown. They vary regionally, with straight or bent roofpoles, different sizes, and relative weight.
What is a ger camp?
A ger camp is a place where tourists can experience living in a ger. A ger in a ger camp
is the same construction and furniture as a family ger. The beds, table, stools, and stove
are all the same. However the tourist ger won’t have the objects of daily Mongolian life:
cooking pots, food, saddles and bridles, dishware and utensils. Also, there is no altar in a
tourist ger. Tourist gers can fit 4 beds around the perimeter, whereas the traditional
family ger in the countryside has two.
Meals
Please describe your plan for
providing meals
For the portion of the trip off the tourist track, the group will be camping. A support
vehicle or pack animals will carry the components of comfortable camping: tents,
sleeping bags, stoves, foodstuffs, water cooking gear, and a cook. The outitter provides
comfortable backpacking style tents, designed for 3-4 people but assigned to just two.
For toilets they will dig a latrine or provide a shovel, toilet paper, and the opportunity for
participants to make a contribution to the greening of Mongolia at a distance from camp
determined by their personal comfort and aesthetics. Bathing is done with a basin of hot
water, prepared by the cook or at an appropriate distance from the nearest lake or stream.
All meals are provided.
Meals are plentiful and basic – mutton, rice, and noodles form the basis of the diet, just
as it does for the local people. Potatoes, carrots and cabbage are common vegetables
served in Mongolia. Generally, they are boiled in a broth made from meat. Trail rations
will include eggs, peanut butter, cheese, and yak or cow butter and yogurt. Typical
seasonings are salt and red pepper (like paprika), but food is generally bland. A small
bottle of hot sauce may come in handy. The outfitter can accommodate special dietary
needs provided they are notified ahead of time (including vegetarian diets or specific
food allergies).
Meals are provided, but not trail snacks. It is encouraged that participants bring snacktype camping food: granola, dried fruit, nuts, Cliff bars, ect.
Permits or permissions
Does the trip require special
permits or permissions?
(required on many U.S.
federal lands and national
parks)
Special equipment
Does the trip require special
equipment?
Special experience
Does the trip require special
skills on the part of the
Revised October 2009
Boojum uses an expedition-size Katadyn filter pump (www.katadyn.us, item code
2050000). Also, note – Lake Khovsgol has some of the purest fresh water found in the
world (certainly more pure than the bottled waters that can be purchased off the shelf).
The area we will be traveling through has no giardia concerns (and when traveling
through the lower altitude cattle impact areas, filtered water will be provided)..
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what you will need to do to obtain them:
If no, please describe the process you went through to find out that they were not
required:
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what type of equipment and how you
will ensure that people know how to use it:
However, Boojum will provide a detailed gear list that they strongly recommed each
participant follows. This will aid in the transportation of gear. The groups belongings
will be with us at all times and there will be no place for additional bagage to be held
during the expedition.
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what type of experience? Also describe
how you will ensure that the participant has this experience?
Previous hiking, camping/backpacking, and horseback riding is required.
Major Excursions Trip Proposal Form, page 3 of 7
Dick Cable/Sue Lach
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
participant?
Pre-trip activities
Do you plan to get your group
together before the trip for an
activity or social event?
Conservation, education and
recreation
How will this major excursion
meet the mission of the AMC?
www.outdoors.org/about/
mission.cfm
This will determine through the screening process
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what you will do:
Pre-trips will be scheduled to allow the group to meet prior to the trip. Ideally, one or
two day hikes will be scheduled or a social event. This is all contingent on the location
of the participants.
One should read the book, Eagle Dreams, which is a history of falconry in far Western
Mongolia. This book and its history is the core of our reason to fly to Western Mongolia
and the Altai Mountains.
TOUR OPERATOR AND GUIDE SERVICE INFORMATION
Will this trip require a tour
operator or guide service
during part, or the entire
trip?
Name of tour operator/guide
service
Tour operator website
Safety record
Please provide information
about their safety record.
Insurance
Do they have liability
insurance?
Emergency response
Please describe the outfitters’
response plan in the case of an
emergency.
Yes
No
Please describe their services. If you are using a tour operator for the entire trip,
please describe why you will be using them rather than doing this trip on your own:
Due to the location and need for guides on the migration routes, ger accomodations,
horses and wranglers, internal air, and overland travel, a guide service is necessary
Boojum Expeditions
www.boojum.com
This outfitter is the oldest outfitter in Mongolia…now in their 24th year.[14 years in
Mongolia. They have led trips for the Sierra Club as well as the special expedition to
this area for National Geographic [2003]. Over the last 14 years in Mongolia, Boojum
Expeditions has had one death on a trip, a detached retina, appendicitis, a broken bone or
two and the usual stomach upsets. The death was not reviewed in detail, but Boojum
stated that there was never any responsibility for the death placed on Boojum
Expeditions by family or estate.
Liability? Yes
No
Maximum amt: $ 1 million dollars.
They are will to list AMC. They will get a
rider on their liability insurance.
Participants will sign a release form from
Boojum as well as the AMC release form.
Are they willing to list AMC as an
Yes
No
additional insured?
Boojum guides are first aid trained and will be carrying the basic first aid supplies. The
leader and co-leader are also wilderness first aid trained and will be carrying group first
aid kits as well.
Refer the "Emergency Action Plan" section for more details
RISK ASSESSMENT
Please assess the risks and hazards of your trip. Carefully consider each area of risk and how it may affect your trip.
Devise a plan to prevent each hazard and to respond to it if it becomes necessary. Please be very specific for each section
if applicable.
Trail conditions, river crossings, weather, wildlife (bears, snakes, etc.)
Climate/terrain
Potential hazards
Potential Hazards: Hiking in rough terrain, boggy ground, lightning and thunder storms,
horseback riding related injuries, cold exposure, river crossings. THERE IS NO
DANGER FROM WILDLIFE NOR POISONOUS SNAKES, ETC.
Response
Boojum guides will carry a basic first aid kit. For a trip of this nature, Boojum also will
require that the AMC leaders carry a first aid kit as well. Each participant is expected to
carry a personal first aid kit and bring their own supply of over-the-counter medicines
(for example a pain reliever with codeine, a couple days’ supply of cipro). Empirin,
Revised October 2009
Major Excursions Trip Proposal Form, page 4 of 7
Dick Cable/Sue Lach
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
Foreign Country
Potential hazards
tetracaine (ophthalmic anesthetic drops) and an ophthalmic antibiotic are also
recommended by Boojum to bring as well
Political concerns, crime, language translation, terrorism
1. Petty crime is common, as it is in any large metropolitan area. Terrorism and political
concerns are minimal risks.
2. Most native Mongolians do not speak English.
Response
3. Security is generally so-so at ger camps. .
1. Awareness of the surroundings and the location of individuals personal belongings
will be sufficient to prevent most petty crimes. Only two days will be spent in UB, the
nomadic population of western Mongolia is largely removed from world politics.
2. Guides are fluent in both English and Mongolian.
Transportation
Potential hazards
Response
Participants
Potential hazards
Response
Other
Potential hazards
Response
3. A padlock is provided to lock each ger. It is recommended that participants keep
important papers and cameras with them as an extra precaution.
Road conditions, drivers, insurance
Roads will range from reasonably well maintained paved roads to rough dirt tracks.
Probably more dangerous driving to and from the airport in Ulaan Baatar than driving
cross country in a Russian jeep. Drivers are also mechanics and in many areas
alternative vehicles can be hired on short notice in case of major breakdowns
Boojum is largely self reliant with vehicles, owner operated, when in the backcountry.
Level of fitness, screening concerns, experience with equipment or activity
Participants should be well experienced with ROUGH travel and camping, minimal toilet
and bathing facilities, simple campfire cooked meals. Participants should be capable of
hiking 10-15 miles per day. Some previous horseback riding experience is preferred
though not required
.Potential participants will be screened by one of the trip leaders prior to registration.
Participants should be current with Tetanus and Hepatitis
Conditions unique to this type of trip
None
EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN
Please describe your plans for dealing with emergencies. Use as much detail as possible, and list any special
communications equipment you may need to ensure the safety of your participants. DO NOT LEAVE THIS SECTION
BLANK
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION:
Emergency communication
Phone contacts, language,
If participants need to be contacted while you are in Mongolia, please use the following:
documentation, distance from
Kent Madin Cell 406-595-2310 (Montana)
emergency services
Ariunbolor Dorjsembe 406-599-5172 (Montana)
Cellphone of Anya (office manager in UB): 99-11-5929
Cellphone of Zaya (office assistant) 99188950
Email: klm@boojum.com
Khovsgol Lodge Management Company
33-16, 1st Horoo, 5th Microdistrict, Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Satellite phone will be provided. Additionally, most of the country has cell coverage. An
Emergency equipment
What sort of emergency first
emergency first aid kit is provided and guides are trained in basic first aid. AMC
aid or communication
Leaders will also be carrying a group first aid kit and are wilderness first aid trained.
equipment (satellite phone,
two-way radios) do you plan
to use, if any?
All Boojum clients are required to have pre-paid coverage that pays the cost of being
Evacuation
Please describe your plan for
evacuated from where they are injured. Because of the remote location of this trip,
Revised October 2009
Major Excursions Trip Proposal Form, page 5 of 7
Dick Cable/Sue Lach
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
evacuation from the
backcountry location if
applicable?
Medical care
Please describe the medical
care available in the area(s)
where you will be traveling
and list names and telephone
numbers for these facilities.
additional evacuation insurance will be required. In case an evacuation is required,
Boojum will utilize either a cell or satelite phone to reach base to organize the
evacuation.
The order of events is as follows:
1. Call the Boojum office in UB (NOT the US office). Provide the date, time, and nature
of the injury or illness. Provide your exact location. Allow the client to speak to the UB
office if possible. Set a time to call back to the UB office with an update.
2. Contact the helicopter evacuation company if the condition is life-threatening. Boojum
has a business arrangement with the helicopter evacuation company to get a helicopter in
the air as soon as possible after a call is made, owing to the policy that every single one
of our passengers has evacuation coverage. If the client is able to be moved, or ride a
horse or jeep, they will be transported to the nearest county seat to see a doctor and make
additional arrangements.
3. Boojum’s office staff in UB locates specific information about the injured party (all
client information is available immediately to UB and US staff via our web-based
system). Boojum staff in UB contacts the emergency evacuation provider and puts them
in touch with the SOS emergency clinic staff. The SOS clinic in UB belongs to an
international string of clinics. If SOS is unavailable, there are several competent
hospitals in UB. Transport to Beijing is available if necessary..
There are local doctors in every town. In UB, there are several hospitals in addition to
the SOS Clinic. Bear in mind that there is a large year-round diplomatic community in
UB that requires modern medical facilities. If a specialist is needed that is unavailable in
Mongolia, air transport to Beijing is possible.
SOS Medica Mongolia UB International Clinic
This is the most modern medical facility in Mongolia. X-ray and general lab facilities are
on site. Referrals to specialists or other facilities available if necessary.
Phone: 976-11-464-325
Fax: 976-11-454537
SOS Medica Mongolia
UB International Clinic
4a building, Big Ring Road, 15th Microdistrict, 7th Khoroo, Bayanzurkh District
Email: contactus@sosmedica.mn
Hospital Number 2
This is a Mongolian-run facility, and is the designated hospital for high-ranking officials
for the Mongolian government. Translation services are provided if an English-speaking
doctor is not available.
Phone: 976-11-458-191
Emergency phone: 976-11-450-129
Fax: 976-11-458-19
COST AND BUDGET DETAILS
Foreign currencies
For int’l trips list each foreign
currency, the current $US
dollar exchange rate and what
contingencies you have if that
rate changes. If a tour
operator or agent is being
used, what currency is the
agent to be paid in?
Deposits
What deposits will be required
Revised October 2009
U.S. Dollars. There is no conversion from Mongolian currency. Fees are based on U.S.
dollars and paid to Boojum Expeditions to a U.S. account.
Boojum requires a $1000.00 deposit to secure the guide. Balance is due 60 days before
departure [July 24, 2011]. Leaders will know if the trip is going to have sufficient
Major Excursions Trip Proposal Form, page 6 of 7
Dick Cable/Sue Lach
EXPEDITION MONGOLIA: EAGLES AND HORSES
by airlines, hotels, tour
operators, etc., and when?
Refunds
What is the latest date you can
cancel and still receive a full
refund?
Participant deposit
What are the initial deposit
and your schedule of
payments?
Cancellation policy
What will your cancellation
policy be for the participants?
Minimum numbers
Will you still run the trip if you
do not get the minimum
number?
Reference web links:
MEC Home Page:
Forms:
Deadlines:
E-Mail Addresses:
Club House:
MEC Chair:
Revised October 2009
enrollment well before the basic deposit of $1000.00 is due.
Will be possible if leader and co-leader find an acceptable replacement who can process
paperwork in a timely and necessary fashion.
$1000.00 due with application.[Non-AMC members add $50.00], $1000.00 due Dec. 15,
Feb. 15, and bal. May 15, 2011 .Final balance [to Boojum Expeditions] is due 60 days
prior to departure.
Nobody's cancellation will be allowed to raise costs for others. Minimum penalty
schedule: zero before 1 March 11, $100 from 1 March 11 to 31 May 11, $300 after 31
May 11. If actual costs are higher, they will be assessed instead
Yes
No
If yes, please describe conditions:
http://snebulos.mit.edu/orgs/amc/
http://snebulos.mit.edu/orgs/amc/application/
http://snebulos.mit.edu/orgs/amc/listings
cyout@outdoors.org
mecchair@amcboston.org
Major Excursions Trip Proposal Form, page 7 of 7