Korea on the Rocks: Land of the Morning Climb

Korea on the Rocks (koreaontherocks.com) is a great website that I was lucky enough to happen upon back in July when I was making preparations to come to Korea. I had started climbing not too long before last summer, and I wanted to continue climbing and gain some technical skill. I corresponded with several members from the site to get info on the climbing scene in Korea. (KOTR's motto is "land of the morning climb," which is a play on Korea's "land of the morning calm." Catchy, huh?)

Fast forward to about a month ago. I finally felt like I was at a point in my life here where I have time (and want to make the time) to pick up climbing again. So I found out that KOTR was having a winter "meet and greet" mid January in Daejeon, a city about 2 hours southeast of Seoul. I post a message to get some specifics on the event, and that's when I got a message from Les. Anyway, the meet and greet was great! I met some really cool people, some of those who sent me messages back in July, and I even met KOTR's founder and his wife (Eric and Karen). They are both incredibly generous. They opened up their home to about 15 or so of us, made us a TON of excellent food, bought lots of beer, and even decorated their place with origami paper on strings to look like Nepalese prayer flags. It was awesome. Everyone crashed on their floor for the night. The entire event made me realize how friendly and almost family-like the climbing community can be.

The first pic is of many of us at the gym where we all met before going to Eric and Karen's house. The second pic is a group shot in their living room. The third shot is of Eric and Jake (Jake is a super cool climber from Australia) making beany cheesy quesadillas. The fourth is of me and Kyung Ah, Jake's wife. The last shot is of all of us eating chili and Les showing a can of beer who's boss.

Korea: Land of the Morning Calm

Korea is called "the land of the morning calm" and for good reason...but you only discover that reason if you haul your ass out of bed and get out to enjoy what a Korean morning has to offer. Fortunately for me, I did that on Wednesday with a new friend of mine, and I'm not sure I'll ever be the same.

I met Les a couple weeks ago through a rock climbing website/online community for foreign rock climbers in Korea. Turns out that we live one subway stop away from each other. We've been climbing and hanging out quite a bit lately, which is awesome because Les is one of those people you can only hope to meet at some point in your life. He's seriously that cool. Anyway, I had the morning off on Wednesday so we made plans to climb Bulamsan (Bulam Mountain). I don't think it "technically" qualifies as a mountain--it's only 508 meters tall. BUT...let me tell you, that's tall enough to work up quite the sweat! At least for me...

Once we were nearing the top, we had to use these guide ropes to help us up the boulders. At that point, the "trail" had stopped and it was nothing but granite slabs and boulders. I'm not sure I would have felt safe without the ropes--or without being roped in my climbing harness.

We reached the top and there was a little old Korean man, maybe in his late fifties, sitting in a depression at the very peak. He offered us some coffee before packing up and heading back down. From that little depression, we were protected a bit from the wind, but we had a clear view of northern Seoul and the other mountains in one of Korea's national parks, Bukhansan N.P. I felt a bit like a bird. In fact, Les and I were at a higher altitude than the black birds that were circling the forrest below.

The reason this experience made me realize that Korea is the land of the morning calm is because the hike up to the peak was really like a moving meditation. I had to be mindful of my breathing, my heart rate, and the repetitive motion of marching up the hill was very relaxing and stimulating at the same time. I felt like my lungs were working--they were really breathing in the air of the earth. The sun on my face and the wind through my hair was exhilerating in a very grounding way. Being there made me realize how much I miss connecting with nature and feeling the energy of the earth and the life it supports.

Here are a few pics from the peak of Bulamsan. The twins in the red are two ajummas (older women) who also wanted to enjoy the gorgeous morning.