Small Almaty Gorge: from Medeu to the Tuyuksu glacier, stop by stop

The Small Almaty Gorge (Russian Maloye Almatinskoye ushchelye, after the Malaya Almatinka river) is the valley that Dostyk Avenue climbs into from central Almaty. Most visitors call it simply the Medeu valley. It is one road and one river with several separate day trips stacked on top of each other, and this page lays them out by height so you can pick one.

The stops at a glance

Read the table bottom to top as you would travel. Each row is a different outing.

The common planning mistake is to treat “above Medeu” as one walk. It is three: an hour at the dam, half a day in Gorelnik or at Shymbulak, and a full, serious day to the glacier.

A 2,700 m climb in one valley

From the rink to Nursultan Peak (formerly Komsomol Peak) is about 2,700 m of height, through spruce forest, meadows, moraine and ice.

The glacier figures come from the World Glacier Monitoring Service: Central Tuyuksu lies at 3,478–4,219 m, is 2.6 km long and covered 2.3 km² in 2013. Its mass balance has been measured every year since 1956/57 and reported to WGMS. The T1 station that does that work was founded in 1956 and sits at 3,450 m; sixty years ago it stood on the ice, and the glacier has since pulled back several hundred metres (Informburo, 2023).

One oddity: the Mynzhilki weather station at 3,017 m is lower than Talgar Pass, yet it feels further away, because lifts reach the pass and only walkers reach the station.

Side valleys off the main gorge

The Malaya Almatinka is 125 km long and drains 710 km² (Wikipedia). Several tributaries have trails of their own:

• Kimasar, starting by the Medeu rink: see Kimasar Gorge.
• Kuigensai, better known as Gorelnik: waterfalls and a warm spring, see Gorelnik.
• Butakovka, reached from Medeu over a pass: see Butakovka.
• Zharbulak (Kazachka), a start for Kok-Zhailau.

Ayusai Gorge, often searched together with Medeu, is not here: it is off the neighbouring Big Almaty valley.

The dam and the mudflows

Medeu Dam blocks the gorge just above the rink. Wikipedia gives a height of 150 m, a crest of 530 m and a reservoir for 12.6 million m³ of debris. Engineers built it with directed explosions in 1966 and 1967 (Forbes Kazakhstan, 2015). On 15 July 1973 a mudflow destroyed the Gorelnik tourist base and hit the dam at 18:17; the dam held, and was raised to 150 m afterwards. An earlier mudflow in 1921 killed around 500 people in Almaty, according to Wikipedia.

For a hiker this means one rule: the valley floor above the dam is a mudflow path. Do not go up during storm or mudflow warnings. More in our mudflow guide.

Getting up the gorge in 2026

Bus. City buses 12 and 21 run daily 07:00–20:00 every 30 minutes to the Medeu terminus (Shymbulak operator). The operator also lists an eco-bus from Medeu to Shymbulak’s base station; we could not confirm how it runs while the road is closed.

Gondola. The Medeu–Shymbulak line opened in 2010. Wikipedia gives about 4.5 km, eight-seat cabins and a ride of up to 15 minutes; the operator does not publish the length. Lines stop for maintenance in spring and autumn, and in 2026 they stood idle from 19 October to 1 November. To compare it with Kok-Tobe, Oi-Qaragai and Ak-Bulak, see all Almaty cable cars in one table.

Car. Private cars cannot use the road above Medeu until 30 November 2026. From 18 September 2026 the city restricts petrol and diesel cars entering the Medeu park and Shymbulak; electric cars are allowed on weekdays only (Bes.media). Electric shuttles between Medeu and Shymbulak are planned, about 15 vehicles every 10 minutes, with no start date (Informburo, 18.09.2026).

On foot. The Student Trail leaves the Medeu bus stop, passes below the dam and comes out at Gorelnik (operator, 24.07.2026). Above that, walkers use the road.

The gorge in autumn

The photo gallery on this page shows the valley in autumn through the lens of photographer Sergey Murzin: yellow poplars and birches by the river, dark spruce on the slopes and fresh snow on the ridges.

We found no source with dates for the leaf colour in this valley. As a guide, October at Medeu averages 9.2 °C by day and −0.4 °C at night, and Shymbulak 5.2 °C and −4.0 °C (ERA5 reanalysis, 2011–2020, from our mountain weather page). Yellow leaves and snowy ridges overlap, and paths can be icy in the morning.

What to wear at each height

The table combines computed ERA5 normals for Medeu and Shymbulak with station records from Mynzhilki.

Medeu and Shymbulak: ERA5 reanalysis, 2011–2020. Mynzhilki: Kazhydromet station, 1937–2006 (Vilesov, 2007), a 24-hour mean rather than a daytime high.

In practice: if Almaty is hot in July, the glacier is still around freezing at night, so bring a warm layer and a windproof. In winter, check avalanche levels on Shymbulak’s boards; the emergency service also sends SMS alerts.

Who manages the gorge

Two bodies share the valley and sources draw the line differently. The city’s Medeu nature park, set up in 2001, covers 708 ha in the Medeu, Shymbulak and Butakovka areas (NUR.KZ, 2024). The Shymbulak operator says the resort lies in Ile-Alatau National Park. A 2025 proposal to hand about 20,460 ha of the national park to the city was rejected by the environment minister (Bes.media, 26.03.2025).

The Ile-Alatau tariff is 0.15 MCI per walker per day (Tengrinews, 09.01.2026); our park fee page explains MCI. Ticks are monitored in the Medeu valley, so use repellent in spring and summer and read our ticks, snakes and bears page.