knyazhy gory

In my opinion you shouldnt get there. It is awful. It is waste of your time! Kazachstan is a very big country and this place is not intresting. In my opinion only Uzbekistan is intresting to visit.

It's difficult to rate this ski centre. If you compare it with resorts in Europe and North America the services offered are pretty basic, but compared with similar attractions other places in Kazakhstan it isn't bad at all. So I have chosen to give it a neutral rating simply because it was actually better than I expected it to be!As we didn't have our own skis with us we had to rent our equipment there. I felt that the equipment offered was quite expensive for what it was. Most of the skis were much worn and in quite poor repair. And we also found similar problems with the sticks and boots. However, after some haggling we eventually managed to get some suitable equipment at an acceptable price. We didn't actually manage to secure a discount as such. Instead we simply managed to talk them into letting us have better skis or boots than we were supposed to have for the price range we had chosen.Both ski lifts were of the kind that drags you along the ground. This means that it is possible to get off the lift almost at any point along the route to the top, so users can pick the spot that suits their ability best. The main problem with this kind of lift is that snowboard users often find them difficult, and inexperienced users frequently fall off. In most places this is not a problem, although it can be dangerous in some of the steeper sections. Snowboarders also need a hook to themselves, effectively halfing the capacity of the lift but this wasn't really a big issue as the lifts were rarely very busy.Another problem with the lifts is that they are quite slow, and it takes relatively long to get to the top (around 10 to 12 minutes). When it only takes a couple of minutes to ski down the slope it soon feels as if you are spending the whole day on the lift. The positive thing in that respect is that the slopes were generally not very busy and that there rarely were any queues to speak of.They were doing some maintenance on the lifts while we were there (March 2007) and that meant that one or other of the two lifts were out of service most of the time. On one day none of the lifts started working until about two hours after the opening time.The slopes were very well prepared. For most of the length the slopes were quite wide, and apart from a section near the top of the main slope the snow cover was good. At least one of the slopes was fitted with lights for night time skiing. The main problem was that the weather was very cold, around -20C, and it was very uncomfortable to ski without some sort of cover for your face.The main criticism I have about the ski centre is that customer service is non-existent and that very little seems to have been done to make the visitors welcome. For example the centre didn't open until quite late in the day, around 10:00 I seem to recall. This is at least two or three hours after daylight, and meant that a large part of the day had already passed by the time you had got your skis sorted out, lift pass bought etc.On most days at least one of the lifts were usually out of service for part of the day due to maintenance, and on one occasion neither of them opened until well after midday. Had customer service been a priority there shouldn't have been difficult to get the maintenance carried out in the hours prior to the centre opening (the maintenance crew usually arrived at the same time as us to start their work).

Эдакий круглогодичный курорт... Бывали зимой. Снега много, воздух чистый, в 30 минутах езды от города Усть-Каменогорск. В основном, отдыхающие едут покататься на лыжах (есть 2 подъемника). Въезд на базу платный (от 2000 тг и выше, зависит от машины), нам показалось это необоснованным. Есть теплые беседки с мангалами, уютные коттеджи, прокат снаряжения (все довольно не дешево), а если ваши пожелания выходят из категории "стандарт", то это прямо скажем - дорого! Но места красивые, воздух пьянящий, отдыхать хорошо!

Как житель города Усть-Каменогорск, хочу сказать, что в пределе города есть две более или менее горнолыжных баз, в том числе Нур тау. Начну с плюсов. С центра города до базы ехать примерно 36 км. по очищенной дороге (дорога очищена хорошо) через деревню Бобровка. К плюсу, так же можно отнести самую высокую гору в пределе Усть-Каменогорска. Очень красивая природа. На этом наверно плюсы закончились. Начнем о грустном, за въезд берут немалую по местным и не только меркам оплату (1000 тенге с легкового автомобиля ... 7 американских долларов). Есть две стоянки, верхняя и нижняя, которая более дороже, но ближе к канатной дороге, правда если приехать в праздничный день, то может не быть мест ни там, ни там. Склоны обычно хорошо укатаны, а вот съезжать с трассы для не очень опытных спортсменов не стоит. Мелкие кусты заросли и поэтому в некоторых местах не проехать. Не подготавливают летом для этого местные работники, а когда база только отрывалась, то все было прекрасно. Два подъемника работают очень редко. С верхушки горы часто ветер выдувает снег и поэтому попадаются камушки. Цены на аренду снаряжения и подъемы на канатной дороге ОЧЕНЬ высоки даже по сравнению с более серьезным алматинским горнолыжным курортом "Чимбулак". Вообщем, из-за неимения другого выбора, частенько выбирали Нур тау.