Big Almaty Lake Excursion

Overview

Five hours from Almaty up into the Ile-Alatau range to Big Almaty Lake at around 2,500 metres, with a private vehicle and driver, viewpoint stops on the way and time at the shoreline.

What to expect

• An early departure from the city and the climb into the gorge.
• Pull-outs on the ascent for the valley views.
• The lake itself, with time for photographs and short walks along the shore.
• The descent, with stops wherever the light is worth it.
• Return to Almaty by early afternoon.

Why it is that colour

The turquoise is not a trick of the camera and it is not mineral staining. Glaciers above the valley grind rock into an extremely fine powder — geologists call it rock flour — and meltwater carries it into the lake as particles too small to sink.

Suspended in the water, those particles scatter the blue and green end of the spectrum back at you while the rest is absorbed. The stronger the melt, the more flour in the water and the more intense the colour, which is why the lake is a different shade in June than in October and different again after rain. On a still, bright day the effect is almost artificial-looking. Under cloud it goes grey and flat, and there is nothing anybody can do about that.

It is the city's drinking water

The lake supplies water to Almaty, and that single fact governs the rules at the shore. Swimming is not permitted, nor is wading, washing or putting anything into the water. Litter matters more here than in most places you will visit.

The lake sits in a natural basin behind a moraine barrier left by retreating ice, and a plant at the lower end handles the supply. The restrictions are not tourism regulations; they are the terms on which a large city stays supplied.

The physics station above the lake

Higher up the same valley, at over three thousand metres, sit an astronomical observatory and a cosmic-ray research station established in the Soviet period, chosen for exactly the qualities that make the drive worthwhile: altitude, thin dry air and very little light pollution.

The road continuing past the lake climbs towards the Kyrgyz border, and that upper section is a controlled zone with checkpoints. Carry your passport, and treat the lake as the end of the trip unless your driver says otherwise on the day.

Practicalities

Twenty-five hundred metres is high enough to feel. The air is thin and cold, the sun is fierce even when the temperature is not, and weather that looked settled in the city can be snow at the lake — this happens in summer.

There are no shops, cafés or reliable facilities at the shoreline, so bring what you need with you. The ground is loose and stony rather than a made path, so proper shoes matter, and the last stretch of road is rough enough that the drive takes longer than the distance suggests.