New to Korea...

[nicco33]

Hey there.

Having spent the last 3 weeks settling in, I thought it was about time to start fishing around for beta and climbing partners.

I'm living in Wonji (half-way between Jinju and Sancheong) and am keen to explore the general Jirisan area. I have all of my kit with me (including a 60m rope and a half-dozen draws) but no-one to help me put it use. That said, I've been climbing on-again/off-again for a decade or so, but have spent most of that time indoors. Hoping to meet people willing to let me tag along on easy lead routes to learn a few skills. Or even just boulder with.

If you're in the area and are heading out anytime in the near future, drop me a PM.

Cheers,

Nick

[ricardo]

rats, i just drove past your town (on hwy 35) for some climbing in busan. next time i'll be sure to give you a proper heads up.

[skinsk]

I'm in the Gyeong-nam area now. . . just checking out some more places. . . What's your schedule like? Might even be possible to climb in Sancheong during the week?

[shanja]

You must be pretty close to the Gurye/ Yongseo Pokpo climbing meet this coming weekend. That would be a gem of an intro to Korean climbing. Why not pop along? Directions are basically get to Gurye Gu Train Station (between Gurye town and Sincheon town), get a taxi and say "Yongseeo Pokpo ka-ju-se-yo!". 5 mins later you will be at the coffee shop. Walk past it on your left along the stream (about 20m) and cross the stepping stones near the picnic tables etc and follow trail 10 minutes up. The climbers and climbing is there.

[skinsk]

Jake, if he's new to Korea, this is not a super easy trip. Wonji is near Deborah's old home, and a real sticks place. Busses from there go to maybe Sancheong and Jinju. . . I'm guessing. . . and not too often. So from there he's either going to Suncheon (S of Yongseo) or Jeonju (N of Yongseo) both of which are easily confused with other places. . . if he wants to take the train to Gurye-gu. . . admittedly much more straightforward than bussing it to Gurye town (I wouldn't send someone new to Korea by anything but taxi to YP from the bus station in Gurye). . . all in all, this still takes how long? and the busses on this trek stop a lot!! Not that it wouldn't be an adventure, and that I want to discourage you, but you definitely want to look into this, check on transport and time it all. Call 061)1330/the province Gurye-gu/Yongseo is in or 055)1330/your province for (hopefully, generally) up to date information! Or if you want to join us in Gyeongsangnam somewhere, hopefully we'll have an idea soon and I'd send you directions and/or meet you somewhere. . .

[shanja]

Hmmm, it must be small....my Korean atlas doesn't have a Wonji! But well anyways IF you were able to get to Jinju/ Chinju (depending on the spelling in your map) you should be able to get a train to Gurye/ Kurye via the Hadong-Suncheon-Gurye line.
Alternatively, if you could get to Hamyang City or Hamyang IC on Expressway 17 (via Sancheong) folks like me cominng from the North could easily pick you up. Just a thought...

[lkiehn]

I'm going to take a train from Jeonju! Nick, if you want to meet me in Jeonju, we can go together : )

[skinsk]

Jake-- I think-- but you might double check-- that Jinju is E of Suncheon and not on the train line to Yeosu/Gurye-- again, I am working from memory (possibly out of whack from one of those days!!). . .and yes, Wonji isn't much more than a bus stop between Sancheong and Jinju!

[shanja]

Well actually Nic could get a train from Jinju to Suncheon and then transfer to a train to GuryeGu but hell the earliest you'd get in to GuryeGu is 130pm! Crikey! That is up the creek, eh? Still try buses from Jinju to GuryeGu Yeok/구례구역 (GuryeGu Train Station) and maybe there would be something much faster and more direct. If you have a KOrean colleague who will help you check this it should be easy:o
The new train link to schedules in English is:
http://info.korail.com/2007/eng/eng_index.jsp
Good luck!

[nicco33]

After my last class yesterday, a teacher at one of my schools handed me a full page of train and bus schedules for both Jinju and Changwon she'd voluntarily looked up after I'd asked a crew of teachers (via my co-teacher) how I could find Yongseo. The train turns out to be the slowest, at least from Changwon. So I'll likely bus to Gurye...

Hopefully see you all there by 2 at the latest

[skinsk]

That was quite nice of your teacher!

And Jake, thanks for posting the link. . . Eric should swap out the "Trains" at the bottom of the page or it will just get buried in this thread. . . (like Nicole's old post with the Express Bus info. . .)

[ricardo]

after going cross-eyed reading this thread last night, i was determined to come into work today and correct this chaos once and for all. as it turns out, everything that jake and sonia are stating is 100% correct (except for the expressway 17 typo (it's 12)) as long as you can read the difference between Sancheong/Suncheon.

welcome to korea!!!

[Jessica]

If you call during the day, the English operator at the 061-1330 line is pretty awesome. If you can't get in touch with an English operator in your area or in Jeollanamdo, Seoul (02-1330) will usually have someone who can help you.

From the bus station to the crag it's about 7,000, and taxi is by far the easiest way to go. Because the accent here can be difficult and there aren't many foreigners in the area, having Yongseo Pokpo (용서폭포) written in Korean might not be a bad idea. You also might want to write down the phone numbers of some of the folks who plan to be there. (that last one has been a life saver on more than one occasion!!)

[Goulash]

Jess is right about the phone numbers.

Even if you don't have a phone, Koreans are quite happy to let you use theirs... even when you are a complete stranger.

If you need to call me, my number is 010 5542 0675. I'm planning to camp there tomorrow night, but it's now raining down this way, so if it continues over the weekend, I think all the plans will go out the window.

[ricardo]

it's a little chilly but completely blue skies in kunsan. YP is about 1/2 way between goulash and me (but i'm on the coast) so it still might be nice..."might" being my disclaimer.
i think i have YP envy b/c i keep posting in this thread! i miss that place! i'm occupied this weekend but i hope there'll be another YP gathering soon!!

[nicco33]

Out of curiosity: if I wake up to rain Saturday morning in Changwon... and it's still raining by the time I get to Jinju... is it safe to assume that it'll be raining at Yongseo?

Anyone thoughts?

[Goulash]

I'd think that's probably a fairly safe bet. The rain can be localised, especially around the coast, but if it's fairly heavy rain in one part of Jeollanamdo, then it's probably raining over most of it.

I'm going to see what the weather is like tomorrow afternoon to decide if I go out there or not. I'll send you an email if I decide not to go.

[lkiehn]

Hey Stu, let me know too - if everyone bails I don't wanna show up all by myself... I'll plan on leaving at 9:00 am tomorrow morning, so let me know before then if you are cancelling!!

[Goulash]

Funny how this has become the thread for the climbing trip.
:)

So with the weather the way it is today, it looks like I'll be heading over tonight to camp at YP. The weather forecast at the moment is for overcast tomorrow & rain tomorrow night. I'm really hoping it will be rain LATE tomorrow night.. but we'll see.

Oh yeah... just to tempt a few others... I'm planning on cooking up a couple of curries for Sat lunch for anyone who comes along.

:D

See ya there.

[skinsk]

What's with all this rain. . . it's supposed to be friggin. . . SUNday!!

[shanja]

Hey Stu mate, if I can con a couple of others into sharing the ride down I'll definitely be coming. Curry? Sweet! Thanks mate, deadset legend.

[Goulash]

I hope you guys do come down... It seems the Mokpo crew are talking about bailing out. I'm still heading there tonight, so I hope I don't end up at the rock all by my self tomorrow. I don't think I'm quite good enough to be free-stylin yet.

:(

[lkiehn]

I'll be there Satruday morning at 11:25!

[Goulash]

You coming in by train? Need me to come pick you up?

Just give me a call when you get in and if I'm not half way up a cliff, I'll come get you.

[nicco33]

Sorry I missed the trip - by time I made it to Jinju, it was starting to rain... so I axed the plan.

Hopefully next weekend I'll be able to make it out...