Mongolia’s Iron Winter: A Race to Save an Ancient Tradition

Herders in Mongolia’s remote Tsakhir Valley have long gathered their horses into a vast winter herd, entrusting young men to protect them through storms. The tradition was abandoned in 2019 amid growing environmental pressures, raising fears that an important rite of passage would disappear.

Village elders now seek to revive it by asking two teenage friends to guard the horses through Mongolia’s deadliest winter on record. Over several months, they face blizzards, exhaustion and doubt, as the documentary explores the pressures on the tradition and the value of relying on one another.