Kazakhstan’s leading resort of Chimbulak is to be developed to international destination resort standards ahead of the country hosting the Asian Winter Games in 2011.

One of a a growing number of high caliber resort developments planned for Asia over the next few years, early reports indicate that some of the biggest names in world engineeriong and skiing, including ARUP, E cosign and Doppelmayr, are all involved in the project.

According to and ARUP report, one of the biggest challenges for the developers are that the Tien Shen Mountains, where the Chimbulak and Medeu Resorts will be constructed, are one of the highest seismic rates areas in the world.

Sustainability is a key factor in the resort’s development requirements with plans including the constriuction of a 4.5km gondola up from Medeu , at the foot of the valley, to the higher resort at Chimbulak, cutting the need for visitors to drive between the two resorts. Water will be sourced locally and reprocessed on site and a presidential decree bans the use of fossil fuels in the area in favour of renewable energy and electricity.

"The Tien Shan Mountains are one of the highest seismically active areas in the whole world" explains Arup project manager - Matthew Skuse. "Combined with local design requirements, this provides for quite a challenging brief."

Chimbulak is located only 20 minutes drive from Kazakhstan’s capital Almaty. It is one of the world’s highest ski areas with skiing between 2,220 and 3,163m (7,283 and 10,377 feet) currently served by five lifts. Redevelopment is expected to be completed by 2010.

www.chimbulak.kz