Medeo (медео), the suburb for Almaty’s ultra rich, situated on the outskirts of Almaty in the mountains contains Kazakhstan’s largest ice skating rink and is currently closed for renovations for the upcoming 2011 Asian Winter games.
Medeo ice skating rink.
From the ice skating rink it’s a short stroll up some eight hundred steps to the lookout point. There are annual races up these steps, both amateur and professional races, for portions of steps and for all 800. Bet that’d be fun to watch.
From there it’s another few kilometres to the base of Chimbulak (чимбулак), Almaty’s premier (and only) ski destination.
It takes a real Top Gun to take the highway to the danger zone.
Base of Chimbulak ski resort.
Translation: Don’t mess with the Danger Zone.
There’s a series of three chairlifts to the top of Chimbulak, each of which you need to pay for. The view is nice but the weather’s cold.
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