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cyphecks
May 6, 2008, 3:32 PM
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I am considering moving to South Korea for a year, and was curious about the rock climbing situation there. I mainly boulder but am getting into sport climbing as well. I was wondering if there is a decent climbing scene in Korea, and where the best places to climb around the country are.
Also, is climbing equipment easy to come by there, and is it reasonably priced? Thanks.
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maldaly
May 6, 2008, 3:38 PM
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Tons of climbing in Korea. The peninsula is littered with rock...most of it good coarse-grained granite.
Everyone in Korea climbs on Sunday so try to go during the week.
Nam De Moon market has the climbing shops where most people buy gear. There are shops on the road up to Insu Bong as well.
Good beta here: http://www.koreaontherocks.com/index.php
Good luck,
Mal
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irregularpanda
May 6, 2008, 3:45 PM
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cyphecks wrote: I am considering moving to South Korea for a year, and was curious about the rock climbing situation there. I mainly boulder but am getting into sport climbing as well. I was wondering if there is a decent climbing scene in Korea, and where the best places to climb around the country are. Also, is climbing equipment easy to come by there, and is it reasonably priced? Thanks.
Let me guess: you're going to teach english for a year.
Second guess: the person contacting you to work with them is very enthusiastic about you working there, and calls you once a day.
Am I right?
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cyphecks
May 6, 2008, 4:53 PM
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Yes, I am considering teaching English for a year. Can't really say I'm being pestered too frequently though. Yet, at least.
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Senate156
Sep 22, 2008, 3:19 PM
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HAHA..wow that's awesome...i'm actually considering doing the very same thing along with my gf, although it'd be next year and was just asking the same questions to my Korean friends that I teach stateside. What program are you going to work for/with?
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cyphecks
Sep 22, 2008, 3:52 PM
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I've been here for just over a month. I went with the EPIK program here in Korea, and my recruiting agency in the states was Aclipse.
So far Korea has been great. There is a ton of climbing all over the place a lot of Western climbers. The website www.koreaontherocks.com is the place to go for any questions about climbing in Korea. They have climbing spot lists by what type of climbing, where it is, etc. Good luck.
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drm1st
Sep 22, 2008, 7:43 PM
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Where in South Korea? It's kinda big that whole southern part you know. :)...We were just there a year ago. Lots of granite. We were down southwest of Pusan or Busan, whichever you perfer, visiting my family. Be careful on remote areas/mountains for climbing. After a 4 hour hike up 1 mountain following very small signs with arrows, we ended up on the wrong mountain. But it was a really rural area. We actually met palm readers living by a small waterfall in the tent on the way up, so it was pretty cool non the less. There's also lots of potential that we saw on the southern coast & some of the islands.
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cyphecks
Sep 22, 2008, 9:57 PM
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I live in Daegu, not too far from Busan. I have only climbed outdoors here once so far, up in the northeaster part of the country in Seolaksan National Park. It was grippy granite up there, and plenty of climbing - I only got around to a small fraction of it. The park itself is beautiful, and there is a climber's shelter only about a hours walk into the park.
I've been to a gym here in Daegu, and know there is plenty more climbing around, but have yet to explore a whole lot.
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jp_sucks
Sep 23, 2008, 10:47 AM
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I hear the climbing is way better in the north...
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drm1st
Sep 23, 2008, 11:56 AM
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How are you liking it there? Drink any Soju? Post some pics if you can . How long are you staying there for? What made you decide to teach English there? Just curious.
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drm1st
Sep 23, 2008, 12:14 PM
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Yeah, I'd like to check the North out, but just waiting for things to get a little better in political relations right now.
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cyphecks
Sep 23, 2008, 4:38 PM
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He may have meant the northern part of South Korea...but it is possible to go to North Korea, so maybe that is what he meant.
I'm liking Korea very much. I'm here for a year, working in a public middle school. I got my job through the EPIK program, which is a government run program.
I decided to teach English here just for the hell of it, really. I wanted to get out of the states and travel or see somewhere new, and teaching English abroad had always been in the back of my head, so I figured Korea was as good as any other place.
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jason
Nov 2, 2008, 7:53 PM
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The trad here is really good, the sport climbing is overly crowded on weekends. And the bouldering... South Koreans havn't even caught on yet. There is some serious potential for amazing bouldering here. Basically foreigners are just developing the areas that they live near now, but there is potential all over the place. Northern SK does have good climbing, but Seoul is a polluted and overcrowded city. Busan is in the south and has amazing climbing from bouldering to trad. You can check it out further on koreaontherocks.com. You can PM me on that site with more questions. My name is choss monkey, but everyone on that site will be super helpful.
Bring as much gear as you can. The cost of living here is cheap, but the cost of luxury is not.
Oh yeah, and most people that spend one year in Seoul either hate it and leave Korea, or realize there are far better places and move to a smaller city. Not to say you can't have fun there. i still visit from time to time. The climbing is nice (it's the air and super long subway commutes that aren't) Check out Busan If you want a city that's a great hub for traveling the rest of the country and Japan, plus has good climbing. There are other nice places too. Just do your research and use more than one recruiter. Don't be afraid to turn down jobs.
here are two good links the first one has a bunch of whiney foreigners but it still has good info.
daveseslcafe.com
pusanweb.com
(This post was edited by jason on Nov 2, 2008, 8:48 PM)
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