Skiing in Central Asia
Central Asia is starting to attract adventurous skiers and snowboarders and becoming more of a “thing”. If you’ve skied Japan, Georgia and Kashmir, and you’re looking for somewhere new to visit, then put skiing in the “Stans” on your radar (which is not to be confused with Stans in Austria). The Central Asian countries are informally known as the “Stans” considering their names have the Persian “stan” suffix, which means “land” or “place of”.
Skiing the Silk Road also encompasses Central Asia considering that the Silk Road trade routes crossed through Central Asia.
What Countries Make Up Central Asia?
The answer to this isn’t completely straightforward, yet as a starting point, you can include the five countries of
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. These five Central Asian countries share a Soviet history and gained independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Some may include other countries in the definition of “Central Asia” such as Afghanistan (where you can go skiing if you really want to), East Turkistan (
Xinjiang in China), Mongolia, and even northeast Iran. UNESCO has also included north Pakistan and parts of northern India such as Kashmir (where
Gulmarg Ski Area is located) in its definition.
Snow in Central Asia
If you’re wondering how much it snows in Central Asia or what the snow’s like, it’s difficult to describe as a one-size-fits-all considering the breadth of the region.
Central Asia is landlocked, so you don’t get masses of moisture from large oceans creating big dumps of snow, and you won’t find a maritime snowpack. Subsequently the snow stability can be a bit fickle. Often Central Asia gets an abundance of snow in November and December, and some folks use early season snowboarding and skiing in Central Asia as a way to get fit to ski for their season back home in Europe or elsewhere. Early season can be primo and a
Kazakhstan cat skiing outfit near Ridder commences its operations in early December.
After that, there may be long periods of stable and dry weather with very cold temperatures that keep the snow in great condition for long periods after a snowfall. The many sunny days can be particularly advantageous for ski touring.
With respect to broad characteristics, Kazakhstan snow is very dry, and it’s very cold so the snow is well maintained. Some ski areas don’t get a lot of snow whilst the mountains near Almaty and the Tien Shan Mountain Range in the southeast receive the most snow from storms that gain moisture from the Caspian Sea. The Altai region in the northeast is also a very snowy region due to the Siberian High phenomenon that pulls cold air and snow down from the north or northeast.
As a generalisation, Kyrgyzstan also has high quality and low volumes of snow. An exception to this is for the region near Lake Issyk Kul that scores lots of lake effect powder in early to mid winter.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is the largest country and sits in the north of Central Asia (as per the primary definition). Kazakhstan has more than 20 ski resorts spread across various regions. Only a handful have any decent infrastructure, yet this seems to be ever changing.
Shymbulak Ski Resort (aka Chimbulak) is the most popular ski resort in Kazakhstan, and it is located near Almaty which is the largest city in Kazakhstan.
In addition to ski resorts, other skiing in Kazakhstan includes snowcat skiing, heli skiing, and some amazing backcountry ski touring.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is very mountainous and it’s very affordable. For example,
Kyrgyzstan cat skiing costs less than a third of snowcat skiing in BC Canada.
There are 20 or so ski resorts in Kyrgyzstan, yet they’re generally only a step up from being considered primitive. International skiers and snowboarders that visit Kyrgyzstan may go to some of the ski resorts, although backcountry skiing is probably the main drawcard. This includes
ski touring/splitboarding trips staying in a yurt camp, and
snowcat skiing.
Uzbekistan
Skiing in Uzbekistan hasn’t really been a thing until recently, and the modern ski resort of
Amirsoy opened in 2019. There are a few other basic ski areas that are the antithesis of Amirsoy.
Tajikistan
Skiing in Tajikistan is for those with an adventurous spirit. It holds some allure for ski touring and ski mountaineering considering how mountainous the country is.
Safed Dara is the only ski resort in Tajikistan, which offers some great freeride terrain.
You can head there on a Tajikistan snowboard tour.
Turkmenistan
This is really getting off the beaten track. Turkmenistan offers backcountry skiing opportunities and there is one ski resort, Kopet Dag, which is located near the border with Iran.