• Chemal hydro power station
• Patmos island
• Goat track

Chemal Hydro Power Station

This is the first hydropower plant built in the Altai. It happened in 1935. It was built by the forces of the prisoners of the Siberian administration of special purpose camps.

At that time it was a very powerful station, capable of serving a whole region. But now the energy it generates (about 400 kWh) is barely enough for several houses located nearby, and a sanatorium.

However, it was built soundly. And now, over 70 years it has been working almost without repair. And this despite the fact that in 1959 and 1969 it had to survive severe flooding.

Chemal HPP is a cultural monument of the Altai Republic.

Since the summer of 2013, there is no longer a reservoir near the dam, the water is gone, work is underway to level the surface.

In the summer near the dam there is an amusement park: a ferris wheel, water slides, a children's trampoline, a tarpaulin, a rope park, etc. Horse and water bicycles rent nearby the dam. Here, local residents sell souvenirs, pine nuts and honey.

Passage to the dam of the hydropower station is paid, and you can also book an excursion.

It is possible to drive to the HPP by passing the center of the village of Chemal and turning off at the fork to the right asphalt road. After the bridge over the Chemalka river, before reaching the camp site Chemalskoye Zarechie, there will be a turn to the right towards the dam.

Patmos island

In the first half of the 19th century on the island there was a monastery. In 1849, a chapel was built, named after the patron of the monk-initiator of its construction - John the Apostle. The island of Patmos on the Katun was named in honor to the Greek island of the same name, where the holy Apostle John once prayed. The chapel and skete were burned during the 1917 revolution and civil war.

The temple and the monastic cell were restored by the Moscow journalist Viktor Pavlov, who settled in Chemal in 1991. They were consecrated in 2001.

At the moment, the Church of St. John the Apostle on the Patmos island is an active women's monastery, where services are held. At the same time, it is open to all visitors. You can go to the island by overhead bridge over the Katun. On the left before the descent to the bridge is a church shop. From the bridge itself is seen the image of the Virgin, carved in the rock by a nun of the Barnaul Znamensky Monastery by sculptor Felofey. Immediately, stepping onto the island, to the left of the path, you can see an icon with a biblical story of the worship of the baby-Christ vows in the Bethlehem cave, made in the niche of the rock.

Popular among the Altai population and neighboring regions is the rite of the church wedding, held in the chapel of St. John the Apostle on the island of Patmos in the middle of the Katun River, near the village of Chemal.

The island of Patmos on the Katun River is located on the outskirts of the village of Chemal. On the island you can go over the suspension bridge. If you turn in the center of Chemal near the stadium on the asphalt Beshpekskaya street towards the Katun and go through it to the end, then we will be right at the gate of the territory of the temple.

Goat track

Visiting of Chemalsky hydroelectric power station can be combined with an excursion in Orthodox church on the island of Patmos, having passed on a picturesque "Goat track" along the abrupt rocky coast of the Katun. "Goat tracks" in mountains call the tracks laid by mountain goats on hillsides. The length of the trail is just over a kilometer, and it is the shortest way from hydroelectric power station to the village of Chemal. And though the track is quite safe, it is better to be careful as in some places the road becomes very narrow (visit of a track in winter time, especially on ice isn't recommended).

On the road you will see the place of a confluence of the river Chemal with the Katun. Waters of two rivers flow separate strips before narrow pass in rocks of the gorge, that called Gates of Sartakpay by name of an athlete — the hero of the Altai epos.

The goat track is one of the most visited places in Chemal.