Climbing season in South Korea. I don’t remember where I got the idea, but I knew there were crags there. And there are plenty — areas scattered all over the country. On granite — crack climbing for trad and slabs with sparse bolting. On limestone — overhanging routes and friendly bolt spacing.
Very few people speak English here. It doesn’t really cause problems with booking accommodation or getting around, but we still felt a slight sense of isolation.
Food is everywhere. I’m vegetarian, and it was often tricky to find something without meat. Usually it was rice with vegetables. Small shops only sell instant coffee and basically no tea at all.
Accommodation is easy: we just picked something on Booking close to the crags and stayed there. We weren’t trying to go ultra-cheap. Seoul is huge, and it’s better to stay near where you plan to climb — otherwise you’ll spend more time in the metro than on the rock.
Getting around the city and the country is easy. Seoul has an excellent subway and a well-developed bus network. Public transport is paid with a T-Money card. We bought ours at the airport — it already had some balance on it. We topped it up with cash at CU convenience stores. Visitors without a Korean phone number need a physical card — you can’t use your phone instead. For intercity travel, we used buses: relatively fast and quite comfortable. For navigation and route planning, I used the Naver app. Highly recommended.
The climbing season here is spring and autumn. Summer is possible too, but it’s humid like Southeast Asia. We were there in mid-November. Daytime temperatures were around 10–15°C. A bit earlier would have been warmer and more scenic.
Seoul
There’s a lot of climbing in and around Seoul. We climbed multipitch routes on Insubong and Dobongsan in Bukhansan National Park. There are many trad lines that subtly transition into bolted slabs or A0 sections where you can move bolt to bolt without aid ladders or (heaven forbid) hook moves. Granite everywhere.
All multipitches have bolted anchors. Sometimes there are three anchors on one ledge — probably for busy days. For rappelling, a 60 m rope was enough everywhere, although recommendations for Dobongsan often mention 2×60. On crack sections you occasionally find bolts before cruxes. Study the topos carefully: some routes run into A0 sections or wander off in unexpected directions.
Insubong
Approach. From the last metro station (Bukhansan Ui), take a taxi to the park entrance. Drivers know where to go. We walked once — that was enough, didn’t repeat it. From the western entrance, follow a good trail with stairs, tables, and toilets deeper into the park. At the saddle where the trail splits, go left. Above the restroom complex there’s an information board. To the right of it is a trail — that’s your way.
To reach routes on the eastern side of the massif, hike toward the saddle and turn right toward the wall before reaching it. Trails exist, but they’re not very obvious.
On the first day we arrived around noon, picked the first bolt line we saw, and I started climbing. Struggled at the start to reach the first piton above a ledge — should have been a warning, but oh well. About halfway up the first pitch it was fine, then it turned into hard slab climbing with sparse protection. Took a few falls, scrambled, and eventually topped out. Lena made the sensible call and jumared once the holds disappeared.
The next pitch follows a crack — straightforward, and suddenly we were on top. Back in Bektau it’s usually harder.
The third pitch of the original route traverses horizontally somewhere to the other side of the mountain. Didn’t see much point in that, so we continued up a neighboring line. It started with a boulder problem above a ledge. Just in case, I rigged a sling ladder and clipped a higher piton to avoid decking.
The next day we had a better idea of what to expect and picked a route more carefully — easier and longer. That’s when we learned that 5.10a (6a, slightly flaring finger crack) can still pump you out, and 5.10c (6b, blank slab) I might not climb at all. Otherwise, a good route. The bolting on slabs still triggered nervous laughter.
On the third day we went for Chouinard A. Cracks up to 5.10a — what could go wrong? Four enjoyable pitches of great cracks led to a ledge. From there I climbed a widening chimney, topped out onto another ledge, and then… guess what? Slab, bolts, the usual. I was genuinely offended. Come on, it’s a crack route! Anyway — scrambled and made it.
Seonin-dong
Approach. From the park entrance in the Dobongsan area, follow trails trending right. Keep an eye on the map — trails are marked. As you get close to the wall, a temple will appear on the right. Hike up toward it, but before reaching it, turn left onto a trail. Follow it, using fixed ropes, up to the base.
We spent the fourth climbing day in Dobongsan. By then I’d stopped trusting the grades, so I picked something that looked easy and climbable. The route is called “Leopard”: a crack followed by some not-too-hard slabs. We cruised the crack, but I couldn’t figure out the slab start. Looking at the topo later, I realized I’d climbed past the correct anchors and ended up somewhere beyond my pay grade. Took a few falls and we rappelled.
By then locals had arrived and occupied all the easier routes nearby. We climbed what was left — toward an inside corner in the middle of the wall. First pitch easy. Second trends sideways, but you can traverse into the corner across a slab (of course). On the way there, there’s a rusty bolt. Rusty is rusty. I traversed a steep but surprisingly grippy slab toward the corner and somehow reached the holds without falling.
Then came a grassy corner. Climbing on questionable terrain (frozen moss, icy rock, grass) is actually my favorite kind of fun, so it was interesting. About 40 meters up I reached a split: an offwidth/chimney going up, and something like a corner to the left. Judging by the texture, birds love that offwidth. I imagined what Lena would say when stuff started raining down on her face. So I went left, away from it. And there — surprise — another steep slab with sporadic bolts. Built etriers from slings and, shamefully aiding from bolt to bolt, reached the anchor. Lena, happy to avoid the filthy crack, steadily followed.
Above, more of the same slabs. I decided I’d had enough for the day, and we went down.
Seonunsan
We moved south to the area around Gochang. In Seonunsan Park there’s a huge number of bolted sport routes. Limestone everywhere, with quite a bit of overhang.
Approach. On the first day we spent a long time looking for sectors. We tried heading to the far ones but didn’t find them. The guide also says monks from a nearby temple don’t like climbers much. Fine. We went to the top of a hill with three sectors. It was crowded, but only Koreans were climbing. Nobody paid attention to us. After warming up, on my third try — puffing and using every trick I knew — I sent 5.11c (around 6c). Lena refused to climb overhangs. Bruised ego, we went home.
While we’re on a break for food and sleep, a bit about the crags. Two of the three sectors on the hill are heavily overhanging. The third is more vertical. On many harder routes (5.12a [7a+] and up), fixed quickdraws are in place. Most are good, though some are worn. Bamboo sticks are everywhere for clipping the first draws. Almost every route has a name and grade plaque at the base. Bolting is generally good. Routes are packed close together, so it’s often unclear which bolts and anchor are yours and which belong to the neighbor. I got off-route twice while climbing straight up when the route actually wandered sideways. Approach from the parking at the park entrance to the sectors takes 30–40 minutes.
The next day we took a bus to a more obvious sector — a huge wall about 100 meters from the road, called Halmae-bawi. Benches everywhere, stick clips for the first draws. We warmed up on something easy, then tried harder lines. I managed a 5.12a, Lena climbed around 5.9. Then we did a few more routes up to 5.11d.
The third climbing day took us to Soksal-bawi. Long, overhanging routes. After the first climb, Lena tweaked something in her back and patiently belayed while I fell all over the place. I sent one 5.12a, tried 12b and (accidentally, mixed up the letters) 12d. We met two impressive centipedes.
That was our last day on the rock. We took a bus toward Incheon Airport. You can stay nearby and squeeze in another climbing day — crags seem to be everywhere here.
Conclusion
There’s climbing in Korea — definitely worth the trip. — Climb guidebook by Dong-il Ryou. A PDF that’s hard to make sense of. — TheCrag. Has route photos and info from the guidebook above. At least somewhat useful. — Lonely Planet. Of course. General info about places and Korea overall — clear, but not what you need for climbing.
Author: Kirill Belotserkovskiy (Alma-Ata)
Source: alp.org.ua