wolchulsan

So with the rare three day weekend rewarded to me because of some korean national holiday, I decided to boogie down to Gwangju to see Baker and Anne. We had talked earlier in the week about going camping or hiking- weather permitting. Saturday turned out to be kinda crappy so baker and i decided to go for a short hike on a local hill with an abandoned building on top. twas pretty alright. There was some type of tower that was poorly disguised as a tree. You can see the photo album on the facebook here

After the hike we relaxed and watched the new NKOTB (New Kids on the Block) music videos. They are pretty ridiculous. I you haven't seen em, you definitely should... Then we got some haemuljeon - korean pancakes and dong dong ju- korean rice wine. Treats.

Baker and I decided to go out for a beer after dinner. As was the case for most of my undergraduate career, one beer is impossible. We ended up ordering a bottle of JB Scotch for 25,000 won. A pretty good deal especially at a bar. We met some korean dudes and spoke konglish for a few hrs. One of the dudes was a badminton champion. We played rock paper scissors. It was a pretty good time.

The next morning we decided to climb a mountain, Wolchulsan Naturally we ate spicy pig spine soup for breakfast and boarded the bus for the mountain.

Buses in korea are hit or miss. Some of them are new, spacious and comfortable. Others are old, crowded and terrible. Our bus to the mountain was in the latter category. The weather was unseasonably warm. It was int he mid to upper 50s. The bus driver didnt get the memo. He cranked the heat for the duration of the trip. Fortunately being a white foreigner meant that no matter how crowded the bus became, i would never have someone sit next to me. I might as well be a leper. They are that scared of foreigners. Seriously every seat on the bus was taken except for the 2 next to me and Justin, a fellow whitey. The xenophobia can sometimes work to the ostracized population's favor at times...

Jon, Anne, Justin and I arrived at the mountain a little after noon. It looked pretty tall- definitely bigger than elver park in Madison. I was a bit intimidated. Jon and annie are runners. Its what they do. They thoroughly enjoy traveling on foot at a brisk pace. They do crazy things like run marathons. They have all the gear- special pants, shirts, shoes and packs. Being a bit worried about draggin ass up the mountain in my jeans and a flannel, I slammed a 4$ bottle of liquid that said "POWER" in big green letters. That and 2 coffees I figured would help me keep up in my pedestrian garb.

I was wrong.

Climbing Wolchulsan was one of the most difficult things I have done in the past 15 years- this includes high school volleyball and once frolfing 72 holes one day in college.

After the first 45 minutes I wanted to die and a wouldn't have been surprised if i had perished. We followed a mountain stream for the first jaunt. Streams as you know are wet. This mean the rocks were wet. The railings were wet. Even the metal ladder we climbed for 30 minutes was slick. Slippery rocks and ladders aren't optimal when you are climbing an f'ing mountain.

Somewhere in the fog of exhaustion and monotony of the half hour ladder climb i almost fell backwards 30 feet to the last "landing." Almost dieing got my adrenaline pumping.

About an hr into the hike we reached my first excuse for a break, a suspension bridge between two peaks known as the Cloud bridge. After an hour of extreme physical exertion and pure terror, is when i first realized why someone would ever consciously decide to ascend a mountain. The view was absolutely stunning. While resisting my body's urge to vomit, i took a few pictures and tried to catch my breath. Just as I was starting to feel better the crew decided to trek onward. Summoning all of the energy my hungover, out of shape, crooked body could tap, I lumbered on.

What followed was an hour and a half of shit-your-pants horrifying ridge lines and slippery broken-ass stairs of death. I came to the realization that Jon and Justin were simply crazy and gave up trying to keep pace with those lunatics. I wanted to leave the mountain on my hands and knees, not on a stretcher. I reached the Cheonghwangbong Peak a full hour and a half ahead of schedule and only 3-5 minutes behind the crazies. As I was engulfed in a cloud I remember thinking, "So this is it? This is what i just busted my ass for?" Then the cloud parted and my hard work was rewarded with a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape.

We sat on top of the mountain for about 20 minutes and ate some grub and took some pictures. We then started back down. Jon loves running up mountains but he is terrified of going down. He creeps down the mountain at the pace of a crippled old man. I kept him company on the way down. We had some quality bro time. It was nice.

We met justin and Annie at the bottom. We strolled though an odd sculpture park complete with giant phallic objects, random sculptures of people sodomizing, and a giant female breast.

When it is all said and done, we shaved a little over 2 hrs off the recommended time of 6 hrs. I would've liked to have taken more time and absorbed my surroundings, but my first mountain climb was pretty alright. I;d like to summit a few more mountains while Im here. However next time I dont plan on sprinting up the protrusion of earth like i've lost my damn mind.

You can see the pics of this adventure here