Anatau on Ivanovsky Ridge aims to turn industrial Ridder into a year-round Altai base for skiing, hiking, cycling and longer stays
On September 2, 2026, authorities in East Kazakhstan Region announced plans to remake Ridder, an industrial city near the Russian border, around a new ski resort called Anatau. The project targets the Ivanovsky Ridge, aiming to create a new year-round mountain tourism hub. If it works, Ridder becomes a place where winter skiing and summer trekking share one itinerary.
Ridder already has the natural basics: mountainous terrain at the foothills of the Altai Mountains and a prolonged snow season that supports winter sports. The city also has 42 accommodation facilities, showing that visitors already come, even if stays remain short.
In the first quarter of 2026, about 11,000 tourists visited Ridder, including roughly 1,300 foreign visitors, according to regional data cited by local media. That base gives planners a starting point.
Anatau is planned as a year-round resort. In winter, it will offer alpine skiing, while summer visitors will get hiking and cycling routes across mountainous terrain.
A four-season resort in an industrial Altai city
Authorities want to develop ecological, family, sports, and extreme tourism, widening the offer beyond a conventional ski season. That matters because Ridder has long been an industrial and mining city, and Anatau is a deliberate push to diversify the local economy beyond extractive industries.
The project would become one of the first major year-round ski developments in East Kazakhstan Region. It extends Kazakhstan’s ski map beyond the established Almaty area, where Shymbulak, Oi-Qaragai and the Almaty SuperSki cluster dominate.
Concrete hospitality investments are already moving. The Ridder Inn hotel and restaurant complex opened this year with 750 million tenge in investment, while the Ridder Resort Hotel and the Edelweiss complex are undergoing reconstruction. A Tourism and Investment Center was launched in Ridder during 2026, and authorities plan to open a modern tourist visitor center as the next infrastructure step.
The stated policy goal is to increase the length of tourist stays, shifting Ridder from a short-stop or day-trip destination into a multi-day mountain tourism base where visitors pay for accommodation, dining, and local services.
A regional moment for mountain tourism
The plan fits Central Asia’s wider resort push. Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Too Resort is preparing for a December 2026 opening with Asia’s longest gondola, Uzbekistan’s Beldersoy Resort opened under Hyatt management, and Kazakhstan is expanding Almaty-region ski infrastructure through the SuperSki project.
For skiers and mountain travelers exploring Central Asia, Ridder’s emergence points to a new destination in an underdeveloped corner of the Altai, with the potential to combine skiing and summer trekking in one itinerary.