Gallery: Celebrating Mongolia's Beautiful, Brutal Winter Cold

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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    01

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    Khovsgol, Mongolia, February 2013. A woman slides down an ice ramp, made for the Ice Festival on the frozen lake of Khovsgol, the day before the festival started.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    02

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    Men practice tug-of-war on the ice before an official challenge begins. During the festival, people play various sports and games on the lake's meter-thick ice.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    03

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    Ahead of the festival, a man collects water through a hole he made in the thick ice of the lake.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    04

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    A group of camels grazes in a valley south of Khovsgol lake.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    05

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    A woman enters a ger in the morning In Khovsgol province, a few miles from the river. Goia slept one night in this hut during her visit.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    06

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    A man holds a door of his yurt that is about to be built on a shore of Khovsgol lake, a day before the beginning of the ice festival.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    07

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    Two men dismantle a hut (called a 'ger') that has to be moved.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    08

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    A man walks among the gers at a camp in the early morning.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    09

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    The surface of the frozen lake forms thin cracks and play of light that change according to the thickness of the ice. It’s said that the ice gets as thick as 1.2 meters.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    10

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    Two women walk on the frozen lake.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    11

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    View of newly developed area, seen from Zaisan Monument in Ulaanbaatar, facing south.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    12

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    A tree stands in Sukhbaatar Square, the main central square of Ulaanbaatar. Behind it stands a hotel tower.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    13

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    Sukhbaatar square, seen from the Ulaanbaatar Central Tower in the late afternoon.
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    Photo by Chiara Goia
    14

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    A plasmaTV shows an old movie inside a house in the outskirt of Bulgan town in the province of Bulgan.
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