Almaty Sports & Outdoors

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The Chimbulak Plateau is located about 25 km from Almaty. It is about 2500m high and offers lifts to about 3500m. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains. There are hotels and restaurants. You can rent skiis and snowboards and use a sauna and an indoor swimmingpool. In summer hiking is possible with fantastic views on 5000m high mountains of Alatau.

There are several skiing resorts around Almaty, but Chimbulak is the most advanced, spectacuar and expensive one. It is situated in 5 km up the road from Medeo dam and skating rink. In oppinion of many experienced skiers, Chimbulak slopes are one of best in the world. And you may catch snow there as late in Spring as in May.

Equipment: Equipment rental is rather expensive. Better to bring yours, of course.

Medeo is a popular sports place amongst Alma-Ata inhabitants. It is a modern winter sports centre at 1691 m above the sea level. Here you can see skating rink with artificial ice, skiing instalations and some touristic places too. We had lunch here in a typical regional yurta (mongol tent) all surrounded by warm carpets on floor and walls.

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i think it would be big fun ice skating on Medeo-world famous skating rink located 1700 m above sea level, but of course it's not working when it's warm, but you can still breath fresh air and enjoy beautiful landscapes, also at summer time you can see many just married couples coming there to take pictures; horse riding is also possible and of course skiing in Chimbulak ski resort, sometimes even Vladimir Putin is skiing there.

High-mountain resort Chimbulak makes an excellent ski-touring summit for even non-experienced skies. You can find everything here - cold, fluffy snow for off-piste amateurs, steep dazzling slopes for downhill fans, ideal sunny valleys for cross-countries tours and alpine hills for ski-toreros.

Snow cover at Chimbulak varies greatly from one season to the next. During the 2007/2008 winter there was quite a lot of snow, while there was hardly any at all for parts of the season before that. The problem is that while it is more than cold enough for snow it is often quite dry in this part of Kazakhstan and therefore the snow cover is usually a lot shallower than you would expect.

Snow canons were installed for the 2007/2008 season and this will undoubtedly help in the coming seasons.

Due to the dry climate there is usually some good powder in the off-piste areas, however, these areas are not huge.

If you are staying a long time in Kazakhstan and want to do some skiing then consider going to one of the resorts around Ust-Kamenogorsk, close to the Altai mountains. Snow cover is usually much better there and the season is also much longer than at Chimbulak.

Equipment: You can rent skiiss and other equipment at Chimbulak and at most other ski resorts in Kazakhstan, however, it is not particualry cheap and the quality is often so-so.

Whilst in Almaty in Summer or Winter. Visit the Chimbulak Mountain Resort. Or Below Chimbulak there is an ex - USSR skating base called Medeo. A huge ice-ring with amazing views. OR hike up something like a 1000 steps from Medeo

Equipment: You can rent equipment on the mountain or bring yours.

Au pied de la chaîne de Zailiyskiy Alatau, à environ 15 km d'Almaty, à 1 500 m d'altitude, patinez sur la plus grande patinoire artificielle de vitesse au monde (la patinoire de Médéo). A 500 m en amont, montez à Tchimboulak, l'un des sites de ski de l'Asie centrale (la période estivale pour ce sport s'étend de novembre à avril).

To the foot of the chain of Zailiyskiy Alatau, to about 15 km of Almaty, to 1 500 m of altitude, skate on the biggest artificial rink of speed to the world (the rink of Médéo). TO 500 m upstream, go up to Tchimboulak, one of the skiing sites of the central Asia (the summery period for this sport spreads from November to April).