The lake named after the heroine of the World War II Manshuk Mametova located at an altitude of 3600 meters above sea level. Our route to it lies through Medeo and Shymbulak Gorges, bypassing the Mynzhylki Gorge and Alpingrad site, the traditional base place for mountaineers before climbing the nearby peaks.
This cold and lifeless lake was formed due to melting of ancient glaciers. Melt water accumulates in the bowl with depth of 30 meters and flows out of it as a small river. Interestingly, but the experts still can not understand where this river then disappears. There is a version, that water goes back into the glacier and is kept in a natural reservoir. Manshuk Mametova Lake is a headache for the Emergency Situations authorities for about 15 years. The fact is that the lake and the glacier keep a great danger. The glacier is melting rapidly, and if the lake would brake through, then an enormous mass of water, mud and stones will rush down the gorge. And if Mynzhylki dam, located below the lake, would not stop the stream, it will destroy the half of Almaty. That is why every summer experts carry out on a glacier preventative works to reduce the volume of water in the lake.
But the lake is not only of scholars and specialists interest. A lot of tourist and mountaineering routes pass through it. Ile-Alatau National Park located in this part of the mountains, as well as numerous sports facilities and mountain hotels, which are visited by thousands of townspeople. The lake on all sides surrounded by mountain peaks: Amangeldy (4000), Pioneer (4031), Teacher (4045), Panfilov Heroes (4120), Manshuk Mametova (4194 m), Mayakovsky (4208), Ordzhonikidze (4410) and others. After this indescribable beauty, muscle pain and fatigue becomes unimportant...