Trip along Kumbel Tau Ridge.

“Sharp, fresh hung around the snow 
I saw: my life is strict again,
And I was glad of it again,
That you can sleep in the grass between the stones,
And put your foot in the foamy stream,
And know the alarm of stone dens,
In the gloomy wilderness, lying by the fire,
To sort through all your thoughts until the morning.”

V. Tikhonov.

Walk along Gorelnik River to Titov Lakes.

Flowing, fresh, moraine Gorelnik Lake is located at an altitude of 3317 meters above sea level, is located in southeastern part of Kumbel Tau Ridge, on northern slope of Zailiysky Alatau Ridge, in upper reaches of Gorelnik Gorge in Medeu District of Almaty. 
Behind a small ridge located in the eastern part of the Kumbel Tau ridge, which separates three Titov lakes, there is Gorelnik Lake, at the northern end of which are the sources of the river of the same name. The length of Gorelnik Lake is 178 meters, the greatest width reaches 70 meters in the central part.
The length of the shoreline of the lake is 471 meters, the area is 11,390 square meters. The lake fills with water in the spring and is full until about the beginning of July, in July and in the following months the snow melts and the filling of the lake gradually stops.
In the fall, as a rule, there is practically no water in the lake. A popular tourist route from the Gorelnik River valley and a longer route from the Kok-Zhaiyalau tract is laid to the lake. The trail goes through the Three Brothers mountain, 2860 meters above sea level, and then through the Kumbel peak, 3160 meters above sea level, through the Trapeziya pass and soon joins the trail from the Gorelnik gorge and after about 2 kilometers leads to Lake Gorelnik.
From the northern side of the lake there is an amazing view of the city of Almaty, the surrounding peaks.
Geographical coordinates of Lake Gorelnik: N43°05'17 E77°02'53

Authority:
Alexander Petrov.

Photos by:
Sergey Mikhalkov, Dina Ibragimova.