If you haven't been to the mountains, you haven't been to Almaty! So we went to Shymbulak, a ski resort that is only 25 km far from the city. We were a bit unlucky. The whole ski resort is a big construction site at the moment as they are building new building and roads for the Asian Winter Games 2011 in Astana and Almaty. When we reached the top, we had about 20 minutes more or less good visibility. A bit later we were inside the cold clouds. Still it's a fantastic place! Perfect for outdoor activities.
