Ak-Bulak: a ski resort in the Soldatskoye gorge beyond Talgar

Ak-Bulak (also written Akbulak) is a ski resort in the Soldatskoye gorge in Talgar district, about 40 km east of Almaty, just beyond the town of Talgar. Skiing runs from a base of roughly 1,630–1,650 m up to 2,664 m, with gentle learning slopes at the bottom, red runs and a single black run at the top. Tengrinews calls it a small resort, yet it has about a kilometre of vertical, a gondola and night skiing, and in summer it works as a mountain hotel with a pool, horse rides and quad-bike hire.

Ak-Bulak at a glance: altitude, runs and lifts

Ak-Bulak is a compact resort with a serious vertical: about 1,030 m from base to top. The table below gathers the key figures. Where two sources give different numbers, both are shown.

The gap in run and lift numbers comes down to counting. Skiresort.info includes six covered Sunkid conveyor belts for children and beginners in its list of 11 lifts, while Wikipedia counts only the ropeways. Run length is measured differently too: 10 or 14 km.

Where Ak-Bulak is, and how not to confuse it with other places

The resort lies in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau beyond Talgar; Sxodim gives the address as Soldatskoye gorge 1a/1, Ryskulov village. According to Bes.media, the resort village itself sits at about 1,600 m. English Wikipedia describes Ak-Bulak as an accredited training base for athletes.

Ak-Bulak means “white spring” in Kazakh, and the name is common, so it is easy to end up at the wrong place in maps and search. Two mix-ups are typical:

• The Ak-Bulak bus stop on route 12 in the Malaya Almatinka gorge below Medeu. That is where the trail to Kok-Zhailau starts, and it has nothing to do with the ski resort.
• Shymbulak (Chimbulak), a different resort at the head of the Malaya Almatinka above Medeu.

In a navigation app or when briefing a taxi driver, search for “Ak-Bulak, Talgar district” or Ryskulov village.

Getting to Ak-Bulak from Almaty: plan on a car or taxi

The practical way to reach the resort is by car or taxi. Tengrinews (2020) describes the route: take the Talgar road or the Kuldzha highway to Talgar, and beyond the town turn onto the road climbing towards Ryskulov village. The outlet also mentions a car-free option: get from the Sayakhat area of Almaty to Talgar, then continue by whatever ride you can find.

Ak-Bulak runs: beginner slopes below, red and black above

The slopes split into two zones, which makes the resort workable for mixed groups. The lower part, according to Tengrinews (2020), is about 700 m long and meant for beginners, and the ski school has its own 250 m slope. The upper part has intermediate red runs; the longest, Talgar-1, stretches for 2.5 km, while Talgar-2 is graded black. Wikipedia puts the steepest pitch at 55°. When snow is short, the slopes are covered with machine-made snow.

For a first day on skis, a sensible order is the 250 m slope by the ski school, then the lower 700 m, and only once you can turn with confidence, a ride up to the red runs at the top. Experienced skiers will spend their time higher up, on the long Talgar-1 and the steep Talgar-2. Skiresort.info splits its 10 km of runs into 4 km easy, 3 km intermediate and 3 km difficult.

Ak-Bulak lifts: a gondola, two chairlifts and conveyor belts

The backbone is the Talgar I gondola, with chairlifts and surface lifts filling in. The list below comes from Skiresort.info, which totals 5.5 km of ropeways and conveyor belts.

The covered conveyor belts are meant for children and beginners (Skiresort.info). Night skiing, according to Tengrinews (2020), runs from 19:00 to 22:00, and in January 2026 the resort sold a night pass for 18:00–22:00.

When to go to Ak-Bulak: season and weather

The main ski season runs from early December to early April (Skiresort.info), with January and February in the middle of it. When snow is short, the resort turns on its snowmaking (Wikipedia). The first days of January are high season: in 2026 peak prices applied until 11 January (Tengrinews), so the holiday week is the most expensive.

There is no weather station at the resort itself, so the table below shows the climate of Almaty. The resort is 800–1,800 m higher than the station, so it is colder up there. English Wikipedia gives −2 to −15 °C at the resort in winter and +15 to +25 °C in summer.

Ak-Bulak ski pass prices and how to plan your day

The latest prices we could verify date from January 2026. On 8 January 2026 Tengrinews published rates from the resort’s social media and warned that they applied until 11 January because of high season and might change afterwards.

These are holiday-week prices, quoted by Tengrinews on 08.01.2026; after 11 January, the outlet said, they may have changed.

The pass grid shapes the day. The morning pass starts at 09:00, so you need to leave Almaty before dawn to be there for opening. The 13:00–17:00 afternoon pass is barely cheaper than the full day, so a late start rarely saves much. The 18:00–22:00 night pass suits people who work during the day, but the drive back to town falls late in the evening, so be rested before getting behind the wheel.

Finratings observes that in 2025/26 the Almaty mountain cluster remained the most expensive in the country, and that weekdays and season passes give the lowest cost per day. Rental, ski school, accommodation and the pool are paid separately; check the current price list with the resort.

Ak-Bulak in summer and for non-skiers

The resort is open all year, so it also works as a mountain base outside the ski season. According to Sxodim, it has a hotel with rooms from standard to a presidential suite (breakfast, the pool with sauna and the gym are included), a restaurant, a spa, a tennis court, five-a-side football, billiards, bowling and an ice rink. In summer and the off-season you can:

• hire mountain bikes and quad bikes;
• go horse riding for one, two or three hours from the Altyn-Arai riding centre in the Chubaragash area;
• have a picnic by a mountain river;
• join yoga, CrossFit and other fitness programmes;
• in winter, rent a snowmobile.

These are autumn 2023 figures. We found no newer price list for rooms and services, and prices have almost certainly gone up. According to Tengrinews (2020), there is also a budget guesthouse with breakfast next to the hotel.

Plans to upgrade Ak-Bulak

The resort may look different in a few seasons. In July 2025 the Almaty Region administration signed a memorandum with the Vietnamese group CrystalBay and the Kazakh company Kipros on upgrading Ak-Bulak: the plans include a golf club and a bigger hotel complex, and the project is expected to create 700 jobs. At the time a master plan was being drawn up and the topographic survey had been completed (Bes.media, 25.07.2025). We could not confirm any construction timeline or whether works affect the slopes.

Safety at Ak-Bulak: stay inside the piste boundaries

The main rule is to stay inside the marked runs. The upper slopes are steep, and on 17 February 2022 a skier who crossed a closed boundary was caught in an avalanche; rescuers reached him within 15 minutes and he was unhurt (English Wikipedia). Ski off-piste only with avalanche gear and a good grasp of the conditions.

• The black Talgar-2 and pitches up to 55° are not for your first season. Beginners should stick to the lower 700 m and the 250 m learning slope.
• The road beyond Talgar climbs into the hills, so winter tyres are a must in winter.
• Before you go, ask the resort which lifts and runs are open that day.

Near Ak-Bulak

• Oi-Qaragai — another resort in Talgar district, with the new Aqtas zone.
• Shymbulak — Almaty’s main ski resort, with a gondola from Medeu.
• Medeu — a high-altitude skating rink (under reconstruction) and a mudflow dam.
• Ile-Alatau National Park — gorges and lakes on the range’s northern slope.
• Where to go in winter — a round-up of Kazakhstan’s winter places.