The alpine meadows of the Prokhodnoye ravine

The alpine meadows of the Prokhodnoye ravine

Almaty – Bolshoye Almatinskoye ravine – Alma-Arasan rest home (1600m) – Almaty-Alagyr pass (3655m) – Big Almaty Lake (2600m) - Almaty

Season	June - October
Duration of the tour	3 days
Average walking time per day	4-5 hours a day
Difference of heights	1600m-3655m
Category of difficulty	٭٭
What’s interesting	pictorial Alpine meadows of Prokhodnoye ravine

Itinerary
Day 1	The tourists are taken by car from Almaty to the rest home of Almarasan from where the walking part of the tour begins. The route in the upper parts of the river Prokhodnaya runs along the eastern slope of the ravine which is thickly covered with bushes and grass. Here one can see the ash shrubberies, birch groves and coniferous forests. The camp is set on the glade (at the height of 2700m above sea level) after a 3-4 hours’ walk along the ravine up to the upper boundary of the forest at the brook running from under the moraine of the Dzhusaly-Kezen pass. Night in tents.
Day 2	After breakfast and packing the tour continuous to the upper parts of the river Prokhodnaya. The path goes out of the forest into the zone of alpine meadows climbing up and down the talus, but following the gradual ascent. Further it turns up the flow of the brook in the direction of the Almaty-Alagir pass(3655m). The camp for the night is set at the height of 3200m, a short way before the crest of the pass There are very good glades covered with kinds of alpine grass. This part of the journey is not technically difficult, the walking distance covered within the day is 10 km, and the difference of heights if 600 m.
Day 3	Early in the morning after breakfast and packing the groups walk upwards in the eastward direction to the Almaty-Alagir pass (3655m). The pass saddle is shaped in the form of a broad, mild crest where the snow lies up to the middle of the summer. From the pass there opens a wide panorama of the ice covered peaks around the Bolshoy Almatinsky ravine.The ascent takes 1.5 – 2 hours.The descent from the saddle is not difficult and in 1.5 hours the path goes out into the valley of the Ozernaya river. Here the tourists cross the river and follow the brad path leading to the Big Almaty Lake. At the Lake ther are cars waiting for the tourists to take them back to the city.