Karakol Sports & Outdoors

A friend of mine living in Karakol went skiing last year and said the equipment was so ancient, that his skis shattered on his first run down the mountain. However, this year a large Russian/Kyrgyz construction company has poured tons of money to revamp the entire resort, buy new equipment, and modernize its facilities. I went up this year with a friend to go snowboarding, and the equipment was so new that I had to take the plastic wrap off the board, show the technician how to put the bindings on, and use my pocket knife to cut off all the tags from the boots.

Equipment: The equipment they have now is top of the line, but they haven’t finished all their construction yet, so there is only a t-bar to get to the top of the mountain – a new lift is expected for next year. Ski rentals are 400 som.

There is no sports shop there yet, so make sure you bring your own goggles, gloves, snow gear, etc.