If you are going to check out nature’s attractions, I recommend looking up what the sight will actually look like in that season. We learned out the hard way that Big Almaty Lake was in the middle of snowy mountains after we got stuck in the snow heading to view the lake. We also learned the lake was covered in snow.
In the summer, Big Almaty lake is a beautiful turquoise lake situated in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains. Through my Almaty research I knew we had to visit. The lake looked stunning and it was a must-see destination when visiting the Almaty region.
Through a YouTube video, I learned you can call an Uber and they will take you to the lake vs. paying for an expensive tour. We launched the Uber app and it told us we needed to download Yandex. So we downloaded Yandex and were picked up by a small sedan (this part will be important later).
As YouTube made getting to the lake easy breezy, I figured we would have the same experience. However, as it was towards the end of winter we had a very different experience.
The road to the lake was covered with potholes from winter’s deterioration, and melting snow. Our Yandex started to climb the mountain with no problems, but things changed the deeper into the mountain we went.
On the way to the top, our driver decided to pick-up a hitchhiker. Shortly after we picked up the hitchhiker, we were stopped by a truck who told us we would not make it up the mountain in our tiny car. The driver thought we would be fine and continued up the mountain. The snow was melting, but it wasn’t quite cold enough to stay in liquid form due to the cool air so there were icy tracks of snow everywhere.
This was the first time our car got stuck.
Stuck on the mountain
It was too icy for the car to get a grip, and climb the mountain. There were SUVs with passengers starting to queue behind us. The driver continued to get traction. He reversed, tried to change the direction where his wheels were going and tried flooring it. After five minutes, the driver behind us stepped out of his car and approached our driver’s window. They chatted for a bit and the other driver went back to his SUV.
After another 10 minutes we finally made it over the icy tracks, and were off to the races. About five minutes later we passed another vehicle and they rolled down their window, and told us there was a car stuck up the road. Our driver kept going.
Somehow one of the cars in front of us ended up in a snowbank. The mountain roads were pretty much one lane for both directions of traffic so this car’s troubles became everyone on the mountains troubles. There was no salt. No sand. No shovel. That car was stuck.
The passengers of the stuck car abandoned ship in their high-heels, carrying shopping bags, and hopped in an SUV behind us. We waited 20 minutes while the men up ahead tried different ways to get the car out.
Eventually the two military men walked down the mountain to help. The group of men lined up on either side of the car and lifted it out of the snow. Success!
The car then moved out of the way and drove off. The vehicles backed up at the top of the mountain drove down first and we followed.
Now was the moment of truth for us. Seeing how the other sedan made out, I was certain we were going to get stuck, never make it down the mountain and miss our night train to Karaganda. Somehow our driver put pedal to the metal and shot up the mountain. The car smelled like something was burning, and was shaking profusely on its way up. But we made it to the top of the mountain, and to Big Almaty Lake!
Now I was expecting the beautiful turquoise lake from the pictures, but was surprised with a lake covered in snow. The lake was still beautiful and definitely worth the trip.
As the water from the reservoir is used to supply Almaty with fresh water, the lake is guarded by the military. They were flying a drone around to monitor the lake’s surroundings, and to make sure everyone was well behaved and did not pollute their water.
The hitchhiker asked if he could come back to town with us and we agreed as we chatted while waiting to get up the mountain, and he seemed nice.
We headed back down the mountain, dropped him off and he paid his fare. The cab driver went to drop us off back at the hotel, but tried to charge us extra for the hitchhiker that he decided to pick-up without asking us, by saying the fare is decided by weight. My friend said, “no. you picked him up and he paid his fare.” In the end, we paid close to our original agreed upon rate.
After our dramatic lake day, we decided to head to a Georgian restaurant for dinner before heading to the train station for our night train to Karaganda. The food was phenomenal.
Even with a couple of hiccups along the way, we had a great trip to Big Almaty Lake, and I would highly recommend visiting it, but if you decide to visit in the winter, I suggest requesting a vehicle with 4-wheel drive.
Stay tuned for the next post on our adventure in Karaganda featuring a cantina with amazing Central Asian music videos and a gulag from the days of Stalin.
To read about our first day in Almaty, Kazakhstan click here.
