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.