In reply to hokkyokusei:
I joined a commercial guided trip about 5 years ago and climbed Mt Khuiten, 4374m and a few other 4000m peaks in the Altai. I'm sure you'll not find a decent map or guidebook to the area, it is very remote and unspoilt.
We flew from UB due west for several hours, without passing a single town or even a road, then loaded into jeeps for a few more hours heading further west to the Altai, just driving across the steppe, passing nomads and their flocks.
We had a couple of gers pitched beside the glacier, carried in by camels, and used that as a base camp. After acclimatising we carried our camping gear up the glacier and spent several nights up high on the snow. Mt Khuiten was the hardest thing we climbed, and it was quite straightforward. It was a snow plod, but quite steep in places and certainly not boring. Other tops above the camp were more rounded and just snowy walks.
I think the scenery is as good as the Alps and Ecuador, but can't really speak for the difficulty. I'm sure there are plenty of hard routes there, if that's what you're looking for, but you'll have to go and search them out. Chamonix or Zermatt it certainly isn't. Rescue if needed may be problematic and unlikely to be very quick, they will have to come from some distance to find you.
The area around Mt Khuiten is on the border with Russia and China. As you look north it is much lower and uninteresting, while to the west are miles and miles of remote peaks.
Nepal used to be my favourite country, but after two trips to Mongolia, that now tops my list. The people we met were all charming and couldn't do enough for us, there is a good reason Mongolia is called the land of blue sky, it is beautiful, even the air tastes different.
As you may have noticed, I highly recommend it. Have fun.
