Hiking in the Almaty mountains will become safer and more comfortable

Hiking in the Almaty mountains will become safer and more comfortable
In huts for sheltering tourists in the mountains near Almaty, you can use Wi-Fi, charge your phone, get a first-aid kit and a grocery kit. Information on the construction of 15 huts for tourists today at the site of the regional communications service was announced by the head of the Tourism Department of the city of Almaty Sabina Amankeldi.
 
According to S. Amankeldi, over the past three years, residents and guests of the city began to come to the mountain gorges adjacent to the metropolis. Interest in mountain tourism began to grow, especially during the pandemic.
 
The Ile-Alatau National Park in the mountains of the Trans-Ili Alatau is considered a favorite place. For example, in April and May alone, the National Park was visited by more than 77 thousand people. At the same time, since the beginning of 2021, 26 people have been rescued by specialists of the operational rescue squad in the mountains.
 
“On behalf of the city akim Bakhytzhan Sagintayev, a plan was developed to create the necessary conditions for safe and comfortable rest of residents and guests of Almaty. By the end of summer, 15 huts will be built to shelter tourists in remote junctions of mountain routes. Preparatory work is underway today. There will also be 10 radio relay masts installed with alarm buttons for transmitting a signal to the rescue teams, ”S. Amankeldi said.
 
Moreover, in the mountain huts, tourists can spend the night, warm up during bad weather. There will also be an emergency first aid kit (first aid kit, route maps, mobile charging station, warm blanket and a grocery kit).
 
Radio relay masts with panic buttons will be installed in the huts to transmit the SOS satellite signal to the rescue console. The masts are equipped with a Wi-Fi distribution function.
 
“Currently, together with the mountain community, locations are being worked out in the following gorges: middle and left Talgar, Kimasar, Tuyuk-Su, Verkhniy Gorelnik, Big Almaty Gorge, Shukur and Prokhodnoye,” S. Amankeldi said.
 
In general, work is underway to create a unified tourist navigation system and launch an application in the form of a smart navigator Tau Go for hiking in the mountains, which will be integrated with the emergency base.
 
A detachment of mountain rescuers will be on duty around the clock in the Small and Big Almaty gorges, and a helipad will be organized in the Tuyuk-su gorge.
 
In accordance with the instruction of the akim of Almaty Bakhytzhan Sagintayev, the Tourism Department of the city, on a systematic basis, is working on the improvement of routes. To date, about 500 km of trails have already been landscaped and 1000 km of mountain routes have been digitized.
 
“There are 26 information stands, 154 signposts, 80 information boards, 14 information poles, 163 benches and 68 pavilions installed along the routes. All navigation stands have QR codes, where tourists can familiarize themselves with the complexity of the route, its length and travel time, ”the speaker listed the innovations that appeared in the mountains.
 

This year, mountain hiking trails in the Big and Small Almaty gorge with a total length of about 172 km will be additionally improved.