Travel from the UAE to Kazakhstan: Enter a winter wonderland

This is the time of year when some of us dream of white slopes running down steep, snow-covered mountains. Fortunately, here in the UAE, we can venture out to the slope in the Mall of the Emirates whenever the skiing bug hits us, or we can journey to one of the usual suspects, such as Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, or even closer, to Georgia or Azerbaijan. However, global warming makes it tricky to always guarantee ideal or even good conditions for some of those popular destinations.

As someone who loves to go off the beaten track — or in this case, off the beaten slopes — I started to look at different options and stumbled across Central Asia. Kazakhstan apparently offers some excellent skiing options. I’ve heard of the country but never in connection with skiing. And so I decide to give it a try with my family.

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What awaits us is truly a winter wonderland: Almaty’s wide and tree-lined avenues, a remnant of its Soviet past, greet us proudly, covered in dense snow.

It takes us less than 20 minutes by taxi to get from the former capital to the cable car that takes us to the heart of Chimbulak — Central Asia’s top skiing centre, which sits majestically at the elevation of 2,200 metres, with the highest peaks (over 4,000 metres) of the Altai Mountains looming over us further ahead, and the valley with an ocean of lights twinkling in Almaty below.

The price for skiing passes, skiing equipment rental and private skiing lessons for my daughter are a fraction of what the usual suspects charge. Another upside for us is the proximity to urban life: after four hours on the slope we find ourselves less than 30 minutes later hungrily feasting on the best meat we’ve ever had (Central Asia’s meat is known for its exquisite quality), including horse (although I don’t know if my daughter will ever forgive me for that). Almaty continues to surprise us with its wide range of international cuisines during the remaining evenings, as we head out famished after long days on the slope — the city, which is also called Kazakhstan’s golden triangle, turns out to be far more cosmopolitan than expected. 

Easy mobility

And even though Yandex taxi proves to be the easiest and quickest way to find your way around, a ride in the metro should be on your itinerary at least once: like other metro stations that were built during the Soviet Union era, these too look more like palaces than anything else — the palaces of the people.

The picturesque Green Bazaar is one of a kind and worth a visit. We walk along alleys of meat produce lined with horse heads — a sight we have a hard time getting used to. We buy honey, tea made of dried mountain flowers, fresh pine nuts and dried fruits, and by the time we leave it has started to snow again.

We enter the Panfilov Park, and as we make our way through the drifting snow, the spires of the candy coloured Russian Orthodox Zenkov Cathedral come into view, a church from the Tsarist-era that is built entirely of wood, including the nails. As we continue through the park, we come across a gigantic Second World War memorial that depicts soldiers of all 15 countries of the Soviet Union bursting out of a map of the USSR. The eternal flame in front of the memorial is unbothered by the continuous snowfall. That’s when our eyes catch sight of a dog who runs by without collar or leash. We watch it pass us on the other side of the flame. We see the owners in the distance (so we presume), but they walk off in the opposite direction. That’s when we take a second look: it’s a wolf. Our phones have run out of battery a long time ago, so we don’t have anything to preserve this sight for eternity — we just have to rely on the present moment and what will become future memories. It studies us curiously through its ice-blue eyes, and we study him as he walks on unbothered by us.

We return to the ski slopes the next morning. By now we’ve gotten used to locals studying us as curiously as the wolf did, used to them approaching us and asking us what we’re doing in their country, the tone of voice warm and welcoming. A group of students approaches us at the Medeo ice rink at the foot of the cable car with the same question. They’re thrilled and proud that we chose Kazakhstan for our winter holidays, and ask if we can pose for a picture with them. So do the two young male skiers we meet on the cable car — one records us for his family back in Tajikistan, a country that I, in fact, have not heard of before, and promptly confuse with Turkmenistan, another ‘tan’ country’  south of Kazakhstan and one much harder to get to given its strict visa regulations.

A curious bunch

As we get ready for the slopes, a journalist and TV team approaches, asking me for an interview. As I relay my reasons for coming to Kazakhstan, their smiles broaden: the interviewer’s, the cameraman’s, the assistant’s.

The last two days we head out to another skiing destination, Besqaynar, where we spend our nights in dreamy fairy light-covered tree houses that sit right next to the slopes, opposite some Yurts that are also for rent. Whenever we aren’t skiing in this fairytale spot, we drink warm beverages, hike through the snow, or build snowmen.

This isn’t my last time going off the beaten slope — in fact, I’m soon off to a destination that is usually associated with rich culture and old history rather than Alpine skiing: Uzbekistan, also sometimes called the Switzerland of Central Asia (although I heard that also being said about its neighbouring countries). Soon I will report
back from another exotic destination.