History of Big Almaty Gorge.

"The less the story is true, the more enjoyable it is."

F. Bacon.

Walk along the «Japanese road» in Big Almaty gorge.

The technological road is located on the western (right) slope in the Big Almaty gorge at an altitude of 1738 to 1900 meters above sea level, on the northern slope of the Zailiysky Alatau ridge, on the territory of the Ile-Alatau natural park in Bostandyk district of Almaty.
The beginning of the road is located in the southeast, 1.6 kilometers from the mouth of the Ayusai River. From the visitor center of the Ile-Alatau Park, the beginning of the road is 1.2 kilometers up the gorge. A bit of history about the construction of a cascade of hydroelectric power plants in the Big Almaty Gorge.
From HPP-1 for about 7 kilometers in the 50s of the last century, an underground water conduit was laid along the western slope of the gorge at an altitude of 1900 meters above sea level to the beginning of the pipe that leads to HPP-2.
The difference in height from 1 HPP, where the underground pipeline begins, to the beginning of the pipe above HPP-2 is 38 - 40 meters. After the construction of the water conduit, a 5.8 km long technological road remained, which starts from the right bank of the Bolshaya Almatinka at an altitude of 1738 meters above sea level.
The road traverses the western slope from the southeast to the northwest and leads to an altitude of 1900 meters above sea level, where a pipeline starts from the hydroelectric power station-1 emerges from the slope of the gorge.
Local tourists called this road Japanese, apparently in memory of Japanese prisoners of war participating in the construction of separate buildings in the city of Almaty. At this time, the technological road is used for walking and is very popular among tourists.
Geographic coordinates of the technological road in the Big Almaty Gorge: N43 ° 06'24.80 "E76 ° 56'56.53"

Authority and photos by
Alexander Petrov.