International Women’s Day: Crossing Lake Khövsgöl with Women on a Mission

We had travelled to the ice in northern Mongolia as a group of women, from different countries, backgrounds and life experiences, united by curiosity, challenge and a shared sense that adventure can be a powerful way to connect. Our plan was simple in theory: to cross the 160km length of frozen lake.

We had seen images and envisaged Lake Khövsgöl as a sheet of glass. But as we travelled north to the start, we saw the effects of autumn warm spells. Local people spoke about changing patterns, perhaps linked to global warming. The ice had formed, broken, refrozen and fractured again. Instead of smooth expanses there were ridges, rough plates and jagged seams where the lake had shifted and cracked. When we finally stepped onto the ice, it felt less like gliding across glass and more like navigating a frozen mosaic.

We used mixed modes of transport: me riding a hand-trike – a new Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE!) machine that opened the door for me to this journey – and the others chose to walk, ride a mountain bike and had the option to skate too, although the ice surface was largely too rough. The ICE trike allowed me to move across a landscape that would once have been inaccessible. The freedom I experienced travelling across such a wild place under my own power, to feel part of a team, pedaling across ice cracks and ridges, rolling over frozen fractures and beautiful fractal patterns in the ice is hard to translate into words, but penetrates as deep as the billions of years old water beneath the lake’s vast surface.

The cold dictated the rhythm of life, with our energy focused on how to stay warm and how to carry out the simplest bodily functions when every exposed second bit at our skin. It reminded us that the systems we rely on every day for survival – warmth, water, sanitation – are fragile and precious and we so often take them for granted. In our modern life with all its comforts, some of us are fortunate enough to live way above basic physiological and safety needs (think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs), but Mongolia took us back there to full appreciation of such basic simplicities.

Our Mongolian support team seemed almost part of the landscape itself. Their knowledge of the lake and their quiet competence in brutal conditions was humbling to witness. Their strength wasn’t loud or dramatic, but obvious in their preparation, equipment, use of natural furs and locally sourced food and materials, respect for nature and in their humility and care for one another.

Each woman in our team carried her own story. All had crossed continents to be there. Some were rebuilding lives after upheaval or helping others do so, others exploring what next meaningful step to take in life, and all discovering what our bodies and minds were capable of in extreme conditions.

A particularly moving story came from my teammate Danika Gilbert and Samana, one of the young female refugees she had worked with from Afghanistan. Danika shared first-hand stories of the Afghan girls she had worked with through her non-profit Hamdeli Global. Once based in Kabul, she taught Afghan girls to hike and climb in the mountains. When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Danika found herself helping many of those same young women escape Afghanistan and rebuild their lives as refugees. She coordinated evacuations, raised funds and continues to support dozens of Afghan women and families as they navigate entirely new lives in unfamiliar countries.

Listening to those stories while sitting together on the frozen edge of Lake Khövsgöl was deeply moving. The mountains had once given those girls space to breathe and dream. Now, even far from home, that spirit of resilience was living on. It felt like a powerful reminder of what adventure can offer: not just challenge or achievement, but a sense of freedom, connection and possibility.

Samana, now training as a marine, sent a message on return home:

“I’m at home. We crossed the lake. We faced the cold, the cracks, the long days and we did it together. What we accomplished on Lake Khövsgöl was more than an expedition for me. It was resilience, courage, and women empowering women. So honored to be with you all.”

Her words captured something many of us felt.

The ice tested us, and it also bonded us.

As we thaw out from our time together and return to everyday life, what will stay with me most is the simple realisation that when women meet each other with respect and shared purpose, extraordinary things become inevitable.

This International Women’s Day, that feels like a powerful message to share.

If you are interested to support the work of Women for Women International, the charity we are supporting through this Women on a Mission expedition, your donations are welcome at https://www.justgiving.com/page/karen-darke?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL