Shymbulak

Shymbulak (Kazakh: Шымбұлақ), also known as Chimbulak (Russian: Чимбулак) is a ski resort near Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan. It is located in the upper part of the Medeu Valley in the Zaiilisky Alatau mountain range, at the elevation of 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) above sea level. The resort area is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Almaty city by the Medeo road. It is popular for its mild climate, large quantity of sunny days and great amount of snow through the winter (from November till May).

Shymbulak in summer.

Almaty hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games, bid for 2014 Winter Olympics, considered a bid for 2018 Winter Olympics, but decided to bid for 2022 Winter Olympics instead; Shymbulak was a venue for the Alpine Skiing events (both speed and technical), and would have been for the latter.^[1]

Ski area information

There are three ski lifts, which cumulatively reach Talgar pass (3,200 metres [10,500 ft] above the sea level), the highest point of the ski resort. The total length of the lifts is 3,620 metres (11,880 ft). There are 3 stations of them; the first one is Intersection Station (2,260 metres [7,410 ft] above the sea level) (9 minute trip), then 20th Prop Station (2,630 metres [8,630 ft] above the sea level) (16.5 minutes) and Talgar pass Station (3,200 metres [10,500 ft] above the sea level). There is also Snow-Park for the fans of snowboarding.

The resort offers a ski and snowboard school. There is also Shymbulak hotel (4 stars) and ski, snowboard and sleigh rentals.

The weather varies from 20 °C (68 °F) in summer to −7 °C (19 °F) in winter and the snow base is about 1.5 to 1.8 metres (60–70 in).

Shymbulak Ski Area

References

1. ↑ Almaty Considers 2018 Winter Games bid

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shymbulak.

• Shymbulak on Wikimapia
• List of ski areas and resorts in Asia