Medeu high-mountain skating rink in Almaty from bird's eye view

A video capturing a famous high-mountain skating rink Medeu near Almaty from a bird's eye view has appeared on the Internet two days ago, Tengrinews reports.

The video was taken by Andrey Likhobabenko on January 25, 2015. He captured the rink, the snow-capped mountains and the dam that protects Almaty city from mudflows in spring and summer.

The Medeu is one of the most popular destinations for both Kazakhstanis and tourists. Located in a picturesque mountain valley in the south-eastern outskirts of Almaty, it sits at an altitude of 1,691 meters above the sea level, which makes it the highest skating rink in the world. It has 10,500 square meters of ice and utilizes a sophisticated freezing and watering system that ensures high quality of the ice. 

The Medeu dam located south of the skating rink was built in the late 1960s to protect the city of Almaty from potentially devastating mudflows. There is a great view on the stadium and Almaty city from the top of the dam. 

Medeu hosts many championships and had seen many world records in speed skating especially during 1951-1980s. After the Soviet Union collapsed (1991), it became too expensive for independent Kazakhstan to maintain Medeu as a top ice rink. The last great championship held there was the Men's World Speed Skating Championship in 1988. But in 2012, Medeo served as the main arena of the Bandy World Championship 2012. And quite recently on December 18-21, 2014, the 2nd World University Speed Skating Championship took place in Almaty at Medeu. 

In addition, Almaty will host the 2017 Winter Universiade, where Medeu will be used for opening and closing ceremonies, speed skating and bandy.

Almaty is also bidding to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. If the city is selected, a roof will be built over the Medeu stadium in order for it to be used for the speed skating event, a requirement for speed skating in the Olympic Games.

By Assel Satubaldina