Lake Kucherla, Glacial lake in Ust-Koksinsky District, Russia

Lake Kucherla is a glacial lake in the Altai Mountains of Russia, set among steep rocky slopes and open alpine grasslands. The water has a milky blue color caused by fine particles carried down from the glaciers above.

Lake Kucherla is a glacial lake in the Altai Mountains, within the Katun Nature Reserve. It lies at 1,790 m and is fed by the Blue Lake at 2,300 m on its right slope. Since 1998 the lake has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Golden Mountains of Altai", together with Lake Teletskoye, Belukha Mountain and the Ukok Plateau. In 1997 rainbow trout were introduced into the lake.

The name comes from the Altai words Kajur-ly or Kudjur-lu, meaning "with salt marshes". A horse trail of 34 km links the settlement of Kucherla to the lake, and the nearby villages of Kucherla and Tyungur are joined by a 4 km road. The lake lies in the Katun Nature Reserve, within the Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO site.

The lake is most accessible between May and September, when mountain paths are open and weather conditions are more stable. The trails leading to it are long and demanding, so solid footwear and warm clothing are necessary.

The bottom of the lake holds layers of glacial clay and sediment that preserve a record of past climate shifts going back thousands of years. Scientists take core samples from these layers to study how temperature and rainfall in this region changed over long periods.