Keketuohai

Keketuohai is a UNESCO Global Geopark in the Altai built around two things. The first is the Irtysh gorge, where the river runs between bare granite walls and domes, the largest called Shenzhong Shan for its bell shape, rising several hundred metres in smooth unbroken rock. The second is Mine Number Three, an open pit worked from the 1930s for beryllium, lithium, tantalum and other rare metals from an exceptionally rich pegmatite, with dozens of minerals identified in one pit and a spiral of terraces cut into the ground. The valley records some of the lowest temperatures in China, below minus fifty.

What you actually see

• The granite gorge - the Irtysh between smooth bare rock walls.
• Shenzhong Shan - the great bell-shaped dome above the river.
• Mine Number Three - the terraced open pit and its mineral displays.
• The cold record - a valley among the coldest inhabited places in China.

When to go

June to September for accessible roads and green valley; autumn brings birch colour in late September. Winter is extraordinarily cold, though ski and ice tourism runs. Nights are cold even in summer.

Honest expectations

Entry plus shuttle is expensive and internal transport compulsory. The mine is largely worked out and presented as a museum. Distances between sites in the park are considerable.

Nearby

Burqin lies west; Kanas is northwest.