Ski Kazakhstan

Ada had a mid-term break from school, unlike Kate and Lucy, so we planned to head out for a ski.  Our thoughts first turned to a return to Georgia but I had work in Johannesburg for the first half of the week and the Joburg/Tbilisi flights did not link up, costing us a day’s skiing.  Plan B was Kazakhstan, where there was a ski field 25 km from Almaty airport and the flights linked up nicely.

Our room at S.N.e.G.  Large, warm and stylish in a ski cabin kind of way

You can't beat the real thing!

Kate's sister had been encouraging her youngest son, Tom, to come away for his Uncle Chris experience.  Both of his older brothers had enjoyed ski time in Kashmir and he was due to complete his initiation too.  So I made the bookings with Tom joining Ada and I in Kazakhstan, after which we would return to Dubai drop of Ada before flying to Srinagar via Delhi. Easy!

Almaty has good air links and we ended up travelling with Astana which was cheap (I was 370USD and Ada was 20 USD!) and provided good service.  As an Australian, arriving in Kazakhstan was easy with a visa on arrival for stays of less than 2 weeks. Almaty airport was functional and we were able to organise a 4wd taxi to the ski area of Shymbulak for 8000 tengre (32 AUD) which seemed reasonable. 

Plenty of nice ski lines in the adjacent ridge.  No lifts and plenty of terrain for the adventurous.

There is always that pleasant feeling of uncertainty when navigation a new country but, so far, Kazakhstan was easy. Things changed a little when we arrived at the ice skating rink of Medou, which was below Shymbulak. The Police had blocked the road and were letting no one through.  To make matters worse, the gondola link between Medou and Shymbulak was also closed.  English is not commonly spoken in Kazakhstan but between hand signals and a few common words we were able to ascertain that the road and ski area was closed because the President of Kazakhstan was skiing! Advice from the Police was that the road would be closed for a few hours so we went to get a meal.  Our helpful driver spoke to the police an hour later while we were eating and was advised that the ski area would be closed all night. At this point we decided to get a room in a nearby hotel and wait for the morning.

The S.N.e.G restaurant from the large deck

The next morning broke fine and clear with no Police check points and an operating Gondola. There was a short taxi ride and a long wait until 9.30 for the ticket office to open before we boarded the gondola for the 15 minute ride to the base of Shymbulak.

Ginger punch with rum and mulled wine.

I was super impressed when we arrived.  All the facilities were very modern and efficient, it seems that Shymbulak was a beneficiary of the oil boom in Kazakhstan combined with their bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics which they lost to Beijing (which has no mountains and little snow!) The surroundings were spectacular, nestled in the junction of two valleys with lots of great terrain that was not serviced by lifts. All the infrastructure was first class and well organised.

Lights on for night skiing which attracted a reasonable crowd from Almaty which was at the bottom of thevalley

Our hotel, S.N.e.G http://parmigiano-group.com/en/restaurants/sneg.html , was at the top of the first stage of a two stage Gondola to the top most lifted point, about 600m above the main village and 400m below the top.  It was a great place to stay.  A hip and affordable restaurant and a huge balcony and deck was top of the building and 6 large rooms (3 per floor) were below.  The rooms were timber lined and smelt of pine and were stylishly decorated with local felt carpets on the floor, local blankets on the beds and great views down the mountain and to Almaty and the Kazakh steppe beyond. The only issue was access as you needed an appropriate ski pass for the time of day to access the gondola to the Hotel.  However, we managed our way around this without any problems and the great food and views meant that you didn’t want to leave at night.

Tommy tucking into his tender and juicy horsemeat steak

The staff at S.N.e.G were great but only one, Aiima, spoke good English as she had studied and worked in both Japan and the U.S.. Aiima really helped to make our trip smooth and easy with combination the combination of only 6 rooms and her personal service making the Hotel seem more like a B and B. My Kazakh friend's in Dubai don’t speak highly of Kazakh food but the food at S.N.e.G was great. The breakfasts included the usual array of eggs, a range of pancakes which were more like crepes and both oat and semolina porridge.  The main menu had well-prepared traditional dishes such as horse steak, grilled pike-perch and mutton barbecue.  There was a decent wine list but our favourite was the home-made spirits such as juniper and briar vodka, cherry brandy, currant bitter and a really nice limoncello!

Aiima, who  made our life a whole lot easier

The skiing was a little limited but if you are skiing with people finding their feet on intermediate slopes then it is perfect.  Alternately, there are some great lines just beyond the resort area which no one had accessed.  If you are travelling with a friend with some back country gear and an inclination to earn your turns then there was some great looking advanced runs. Easily enough to keep good skiers busy for a week. Ada and Tom had a great time and Ada’s skiing really improved over the week.  She had one ski lesson with an instructor who spoke a little English but that was enough to help her jump ahead and it was reasonably priced at $30USD for an hour and a half private lesson.

The main valley on sunset

We had an afternoon in Almaty, mainly to look for a traditional Kazakh felt carpet.  Almaty is the biggest city in Central Asia and is the business hub of the region.  It is orderly but not particularly pretty in winter, mainly because of the old Soviet era concrete apartments and the smell of coal, I assume from the nearby power plants. Summer would be different as the city had lots of trees so I would imagine that it would be lovely and green in the warmer months. There are some stylish old buildings and some new landmark modern buildings but it is a little patchwork in nature.

Ada checking out some local Almaty markets

                                        

I was able to find just what we were looking, a Syrmak felt carpet at a small shop called Tumar in Almaty   http://www.tumar.com/en/blog/178/6351/syrmak-shyrdak . The price was reasonable and my the language barrier prevented and haggling, I hate haggling.  It now takes pride of place in our lounge room and is a good reminder of Kazakhstan

Our new carpet in pride of place