Friday, September 02, 2011

Climbed Dobong Monain. Killed My Legs.

Turns out Dobong Mountain is a steep bastard of a mountain to climb. I was out of practice, so it took days before I could do things like stairs again.

But once you get to the top it's crunking beautiful.

Here's a panorama I took last wednesday. Click on the image for a full-size picture.

1 comment:

Annie Styles said...

Hi there- long time lurker here. The view is gorgeous from up there :)

I got the rare chance to climb Dobong with Park Young Seok, as in the definition of Korean badass and the 8-foot tall statue in front of that North Face at the foot of the mountain. SUCH a cool guy... I didn't really realize at the time that he was hungover either, but he powered at the head of our group regardless and I was of course astonished. And really pooped after the trip.

Korean mountains in general, I hear after the climb, are very steep, whereas American hikes are generally long and a shallow incline. Another Korean I'd met on the trip joked that the mountains rise and fall like Korean tempers-steeply and frequently.

So I understand that of course he is going to pass my scrawny self on the way up, taking very generous breaks for everyone else's sake may I add. Most of the hike was STAIRS, which perplexed me, especially when I saw myself being passed by group upon group of elderly Korean ladies. How do they do it???

When I return, my goal is to climb it again and not get so tired... I get that someone who completed the Adventure Grand Slam can take Dobong on no problem, but that I got totally shamed by a veritable crowd of ahjumma is reason enough to go back to Korea as soon as I can. I have to redeem myself!