Solitude and Sweeping Views in Seoraksan Part 1

I have had the good fortune to hike and climb at Seoraksan National park twice during my stay in Korea. It is widely considered Korea's most beautiful park. From the top of its tall granite walls you will see the kilometre long ridges that engulf the entirety of the park. For the weak and old there is a cable car that leads up to the peak of a mountain within the first 10 minutes of the park. You can pay your 2000 won entrance fee and be crammed into a cable car with pushing adjummas (old ladies) and youngsters coughing into the air so fast that you'll hate your life before you reach the top.

Then there are those people who want to dig a little deeper. They will lace up their shoes and hike around the park, walking up the metal staircases in a crowded line to a picturesque view only soiled by the lime green jacket (that you can see from space) worn by the yelling father who is telling his son to stop pushing his sister off the cliff.

Then their are people like us. The so called "adrenaline junkies" who would risk life and death to climb 10 pitches of hot vertical rocks to reach peaks never stepped on by people in everyday society. The only thing in our way of a perfect view is the tower in front of us, full of cracks and boulders that we will jam, lock, and inch up. Having those "what the f*** am I doing here," moments are all a part of the experience for us. So enough with the crowds, let's break off the trail and head up to solitude.

It was early May on a long weekend in Korea. Buddha's B-Day celebrations were being prepped and that hopefully meant less crowds at the parks. My climbing mentor grabbed us a permit to climb at Seoraksan and we set out with 3 other people late at night for the 4-5 hour drive. Coughing and sneezing all week the cold I had was in full swing but I wasn't going to let a sore throat come in between me and my first trad climbing experience. I downed a couple Nyquil pills and was taught how to make tape gloves on the bumby highway.

We eventually arrived early (around 1 am) safe at a friends apartment about 10 minutes from the park. "Get ready for an alpine start! we're leaving around 3:30!" my mentor said. Easy for me, I was still dead from my cough medecine. I blinked and it was time to go. Pack the car up, off to the park.

The sun hadn't even thought about rising as we started the 5 k.m. long uphill hike to Ulsan Bawi. The wall of granite you can see from miles around. We were going to be split into two teams each climbing a different route. A 5.9 for me and my first trad experience. And a gnarly 10C offwidth climb for the other experienced people. Having never crack climbed before I felt almost shunned. I wasn't even climbing with my mentor, he told me it was too difficult. "Too difficult?" I thought..."I have climbed 11D sport! I can surely climb a simple 10C!" My raging ego going off as I wanted to climb the hardest routes.

My partner and I started up the wall as the sun peaked the horizon. today it was 7 pitches of 5.9 climbing. His name was John and he cruised the first pitch so quick it felt like I just put him on belay by the time I heard "I'm Secure!" Alright, let's get this show on the road. Time to show everyone who can climb a 5.9! Fast forward 30 seconds frantically looking for a place to put my foot on the nonexistent wall. "Holy Fuck! This shit is 5.9?" I hadn't even reached his first piece of pro and I already felt over my head. Pumped out of my mind from pulling cams out and learning as I go, I reach the first and only placed nut on the route. It immidiately drops while I try and rack it and just think "Shit...I've already messed up and it's been only 15 minutes!" John says not to worry, we can find it later. I finish the first in what seemed like an hour later with the grace of how an elephant would attempt to climb.

John continues to lead the cracks and slabs as we slowly but surely make our way closer and closer to the summit. I learn to jam, layback, and deal with the intense pain of twisting my feet in the cracks. Every-so-often turning around taking in the view of the valley dissappearing before my eyes. The sun was in full heat and swing about halfway up. I couldn't keep any chalk on my hands. Every two moves I had to frantically grab some more to keep me from flying off the laybacks.

Then when the sun was high in the sky we topped out on the windy roof of Ulsan Bawi. We were waiting for the other group to finish so we had some lunch and took in the view. There was a korean climbing group up there as well beginning their rappel, and after they left we had the view to ourselves.

It was beautiful, wonderful and there wasn't a lime green jacket in sight.

After waiting for 30 minutes we rappelled down the route we climbed to see the other group waiting for us at the base. "What happenned?" I asked. "We got shutdown on the 4th pitch." After hearing that I became thankful that I was put on the 5.9 route instead...

Please continue reading Part 2 for the next part of Climbing in Soeraksan.