Lake Issyk

Lake Issyk lies at around 1,750 metres in a gorge in the Zailiysky Alatau, formed by an ancient landslide that dammed the valley, and it was a well-known resort until 7 July 1963, when a debris flow from a collapsing moraine lake above swept down and destroyed the natural dam, emptying the lake in a matter of hours and killing a large number of people in the valley below. The disaster prompted the mudflow barriers built across the Almaty gorges, including the one at Medeu. A dam has since restored a smaller lake in the same basin, green-blue and ringed by spruce, with a road to the shore and walking trails above. Nearby is the Issyk kurgan where the Golden Man was excavated in 1969.

History

The lake formed some 8 to 10 millennia ago, when an earthquake brought down the side of the gorge and built a dam about 300 metres high, and the Caspian tiger still lived around it in the early 1900s. In 1963 another landslide broke the natural dam and the flood damaged the town of Esik, and the lake has since been re-created with human help (Wikipedia, Lake Issyk).

What's there

• The restored lake - the water held behind the modern dam.
• Spruce slopes - the Tien Shan spruce ringing the basin.
• The 1963 evidence - the debris and the changed valley floor.
• The Issyk kurgan - the burial mound near the town where the Golden Man was found.

When to go

May to October for the road and the trails. Autumn gives the clearest air and colour in the valley. The gorge closes in winter. Weekends bring crowds from Almaty.

What to expect

The lake today is smaller and less dramatic than photographs from before 1963 suggest. The gorge road is rough above the lake. Entry fees apply at the gate. Weekend traffic and picnic crowds are heavy.

Nearby

Turgen gorge lies east; Almaty is west.

Key facts