Tours on lake Issyk.

«The lake Issyk is surprisingly transparent and is beautiful the dark blue and green peaks. Surrounded by mountains, it mysteriously and cosy. And it is terrible on its deserted, not occupied coast and it is surprisingly good. Not without reason Vernyi peoples make pilgrimage to its beautiful coast, live weeks in tents and yurts, admiring beauty of lake Issyk. The lake is among the blue sky, silver snow mountains, dense coniferous woods as the mysterious emerald, silently sleeps lake Issyk very few people known poorly investigated, difficultly accessible. This lake-fairy tale. Only in ours very few people has not visited this silent beautiful lake mysterious essences; here where there should be a palace of tsarevna, to which on a carpet-plane flight Ivan-tsarevitch, here mountains which the dragon should preserve!... Naked rocks of the grey color, three steep ledges go down to dark green water, colors of dark chrysoprase, the water constantly changing color depending on illumination»

P. Karskov «The Trip on lake Issyk" 1911.

Travel Tian-Shan Kazakhstan.

"Valley Issyk the best input in the best by the kinds of district Zailiiskiy of Ala-Tau. To me spoke about a falls which is being valley Issyk, about fine Alpine «Green lake» (Zhasyl-Kul) to which it is easier to approach on valley Issyk much, I have left the group on a place rest day and accompanied by three convoy cossacks and three hunters have made excursion in a valley.
In the end of wild gorge has seemed, a wide silvery falls. Having risen, on a range adjoining to quaquaversal structure to a hill, we with pleasure have seen at our legs «The Green lake (Zhasyl-Kul) had the purest and transparent, dense bluish-green color of transbaikalian beryl. Behind lake the courageous and abrupt crest of high mountains towered”.
In 1939 on coast of lake the camp site of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions has started to work. In 1959 the park of lake Issyk with hotel and restaurant here has been opened, the base of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, boat station, restaurant have been constructed, and in 1958 the wide asphalted highway is laid.
Near to lake it has been constructed  pavilion "Air" from which the wide panorama of gorge on the north and on the south opened, on a dam. The road passed very close to grandiose breakage to gorge, there is far in the bottom of a blue tape the rough river Issyk is twisted.
On east part of the blockage, a lake being by a natural dam the building of road service station and parking for machines have been constructed. Further the high viewing tower made of metal from which very interesting panorama on lake opens and is visible to its vicinity (by the way the viewing tower was saved up to now).
From a parking the road in length about 300 meters conducts to coast of lake Issyk. On a surface of a dam small houses of a camp site «Issyk», service and economic constructions have been located. The lake was formed as a result of a grandiose collapse.
There was a natural dam in height of 300 meters which has been destroyed during lodging 1963. Enormous blocks in size about the one-storeyed house can be seen on a surface of a dam. On dam Issyk was two more lakes: Round and Black. The lake Round, or Small Issyk had the area of 0,2 kilometers square, depth of 40 meters.
It ate from the Big lake during intensive thawing glaciers, and in the autumn on underground ways. The lake Black was small. After lodging 1963 the lake has disappeared, the hollow was saved on a surface of east part of a dam.
To establish time of a blockage of a dam difficultly, some authors specify 8000 years, being based on indirect data. The collapse has occured during glacial time as in adjournment of this epoch below lake Issyk there are granite fragments which could be transported about a riverhead where exposures granites are known.
During lodging 1963 all granite fragments have remained in a hollow of lake. Besides a channel from lake has not had time to develop to itself an appreciable channel on a surface of a dam (depth of a channel was about one meter).
Thousand Almaty peoples and visitors of city every summer had a rest in vicinities of lake. Its image was printed on cards and in tourist brochures.

Authority:
P. Semenov Tien-Shanskiy. «Travel to Tien Shan». A series Great travel. Moscow, EKSMO, 2009. The small part of the information is used from the book «City Vernyi and Semirechye area» 2009, Author A.G.Lukhtanov. Other part of the information is collected from different sources by A.Petrov the Encyclopedia "Kazakhstan", 4 volumes, 1989.

Photos are used:
issyk.info From Gennadiy Kholin, Inna Stetsenko family archive. A museum of history of Almaty. Press photographer A.Kuzmin. http://yvision.kz/post/413984