Altay Mountain Lodge skitouring

In February 2023, I became a co-founder and a Lead Ski Guide at Altay Mountain Lodge & Yurts, a backcountry skiing company operating in Altay (Altai) Mountains, East Kazakhstan region. And I invite you to this entirely new skitouring destination on the world map.

Rudny Altay is a part of Altay Mountains system. This is one of those few places in Eurasia where the first snowfalls begin in November, and by the beginning of December, a stable snow cover forms at low altitudes. Historically, the primary industry in this part of Kazakhstan was the extraction of various minerals, primarily metal ores. Local mountains hide not only gold and other precious metals but something way more interesting for us - first-class terrain and powder. Skitourers and splitboarders have visited some local mountains for quite a few years, but the place where I invite you is very different from those. This is a new skitouring destination, deeper in the range, with only one company operating on 25 square kilometres of prime terrain. The camp location is the valley of Bogdanikha river, with an elevation of 700 meters above sea level and surrounded by mountains up to 1800 meters.

Welcome to Altay Mountain Lodge & Yurts, the region's first ever Backcountry Mountain Lodge.

Itinerary

Saturday: Transfer from Ust-Kamenogorsk on afternoon (upon your arrival); transfer to the lodge by bus and snowmobile.
Check in to Altay Lodge early evening. Dinner, Banya, rest time.
Sunday to Friday: Skitouring / splitboarding – 6 full days.
Saturday: Early morning departure from the Lodge to Ust-Kamenogorsk, where you will take an afternoon flight to your destinations.

Logistics

To get there, you should take a flight to Almaty (ALA) or Astana (NQZ). There are some direct flights from Europe and many options with connections.
From there you take a short flight to Ust-Kamenogorsk (UKK), the local name of the city is Oskemen.
For domestic flights, we recommend Air Astana as the most reliable flight company (in our experience)
From there we pick you up and ride in a comfortable bus for 3,5-4 hours. Final log – 15 minutes ride by snowmobile in comfortable passenger sledge.
Logistic in the camp is based on two modern snowmobiles with passenger and cargo sledges. We also use them to shorten the approach to the remote part of the valley and save time for powderskiing.
If you need a taxi ride while traveling in Kazakhstan, we recommend using Yandex Go or Uber apps. Taxi cost is pretty low compared to Europe. We recommend using higher than standard low classes.

Visas
Kazakhstan offers a visa-free policy for most nationalities including EU countries, USA, Canada etc. See here for the full list of countries included in this visa-free policy.

While we are working on a real wooden lodge, our camp is based on a modern version of traditional Kazakh yurts.

The camp consists of 3 yurts for guests and staff, one dining room/kitchen yurt, and one classic wooden Banya (bathhouse, similar to sauna). Yurts for guests are 50 square meters each, with 4 separate rooms and two beds in each room. Beds have mattresses and bed linen. Heated by a wooden stove, with enough space to store and dry the gear and clothes.

The dining yurt is 64 square meters, with tables, chairs, and some space for socializing. Electricity is available 24 hours.

Banya (bathhouse) is a separate wooden building. It also includes a heated sanitary block with wash basins and standard toilets.

Meals

We do our best to make the food and the skiing a remarkable part of your trip. Our talented chefs decided to change the big restaurants of Almaty for our camp for the winter. And this means that you have some of Kazakhstan’s best chefs. Our menu is traditional Kazakh and Central Asia dishes with premium local ingredients and modern cuisine—nothing but an exceptional gastronomic experience.

There are three hot meals daily (breakfast, après-ski soup and snacks, dinner) and sandwiches/muesli bars for mountain lunch. You can purchase alcoholic drinks at the accommodation for a reasonable price (beer, vine, liquors).

2024-2025 DATES:

Price: 2 280€ per person

Discounts for group of 6 pax, contact me for details.

Price includes:

• Organization of the entire trip from Ust-Kamenogorsk airport and back.
• 6 full days of guiding service and skitouring.
• Accommodation in the yurts, 7 nights, TWIN.
• Daily Banya (bathhouse similar to sauna).
• All meals in the camp (breakfast, mountain lunch, aprés ski soup and snacks, dinner).
• Group transfers by bus and snowmobiles – airport Ust-Kamenogorsk – Camp, Camp – Ust-Kamenogorsk.
• Daily snowmobile support for the approach, if needed.

Extra expenses:

• International and domestic airfares
• Personal Insurance
• Alcoholic beverages
• Personal expenses

Prerequisites:

• Intermediate or higher level of skiing/boarding, including in deep-snow conditions.
• Previous skitouring experience, at least one week.
• Good physical shape - you should be able to skin up at least 1000 vertical meters per day.