March 6-8th at Ganhyeon (3월 6-8일 간현암장에)

[shanja]

Okey dokey climber-rooneys, so the worst kept secret of all time is out. :doh: There will be a group of KOTRers and friends climbing/ campping at "the G" from Fri 6th till Sun 8th March. The eternally recurrent Joe Park (박승천), will be making a visitation from the USA so it's a double celebration.
It'll be a pot-luck kinda thing (though there are lots of mini-marts, Min-Baks and such right there), so bring some food, your sport climbing rack, and be part of the fun.:pound:

Newbies: It's dead easy to get to. It's right next to Wonju city in Gangwon-do Province. Buses and trains (Cheongryangri train station in Seoul) run there from Seoul etc (but only 3 per day so book ahead or stand for 2 hours). From Wonju you can take a 52 bus to Ganhyeon Resort (간현 리조트), or if there is a group of 3-4 of you split a taxi and get there easily (about 20,000won?). Look it up on the search climbs link.

Kyung Ah, Brandon and I will be driving up from Daejeon on Friday. If you are free Fri and are in there area I have room for two more people in the car (Diana? Kat? Matt?).

Camping will be at the far end camp ground (not right opposite the crag/ carpark) and we'll have a bonfire (if allowed) and maybe a guitar etc. Could be chill of a night so a down jacket and good sleeping bag/ tent be a good idea. If you lack such - Min Baks (mini private house stay pack-packer thing) are available - 25,000won a night (guesstimate).

Great place for climbers at all levels.

[dmclean]

I was planning to make a trip up to Ganhyeon this weekend anyway. So my wife and I will likely be there. Don't know if I will get in Friday night or Saturday morning.

[kocoeric]

Are you guys planning on climbing most of the day on Sunday?

I cannot make it Saturday during the day but I can go Saturday evening and leave Sunday afternoonish.

[shanja]

Eric mate, I'm sure at least a few people will be climbing till late Sunday arvo...I'll prob'ly head off round 4.30pm or thereabouts though.

[gt29905]

I think I'd like to come down and embarrass myself on that fine lookin' rock.

I'm in northern Seoul. I'd like to find someone else from Seoul to coordinate with to make the trip down there a little more interesting. Anybody from Seoul thinking about going, please let me know. :becky:

[dmclean]

I am in Northish Seoul, Sungshin Women's Uni; guess that is N Seoul. Either going by myself Friday night or by myself on the 7am train Saturday morning. My wife is going to join on Saturday afternoon, maybe earlier.

Trains on Fri night:
1900
2000
2240


Let me know if you want to coordinate.

[gt29905]

Yes, that'd be swell. Tomorrow I'll ask my boss what the earliest time I can get off on Fri will be so that we will be able to know what train to catch. Are you leaning towards Fri or Sat departure. I'd prefer Fri so that I can climb all day Sat and feel really fresh on Sat morning. Have you been there before?

[shanja]

For those folks who've not been to "the G" before, the train from Cheongryangri Station in Seoul goes right to a tiny village stop called "Ganhyeon/ Kanhyun". Get off there and walk out of the station onto the street below, turn left and walk along about 200m and then keep going under a train bridge at a bend, and up about 50m to an obvious gated ticket booth (closed after 6pm I think). Stroll across the car-park before you angling to the shops etc ON THE FAR RIGHT edge and follow that little speed-bump bedecked road over a span bridge, then over a low causeway and up a hairpin past some shops and monkey bars etc, then back down along the river till you get to the very end where it shoots over another causeway/bridge. Toilet block on immediate left, shops and road on right (river over that way too). GO RIGHT HERE and after 100m you are at a small car-park and a foot bridge that leads to the crag. People camp in here too, BUT we will be camping further down that road, passed the last buildings and over the much bigger foot bridge (from afar it looks like a car bridge). It's grassed and quieter here. Total walk time from Station to camp ground maybe 20 minutes. You might get a taxi to take you, so tell them Ganhyeon Ya-yeong-jang. "Ya-yeong-jang" is campground. "Am-byeok deung-ban" is rock-climbing if all else fails.

[dmclean]

Fri works just fine by me. I work for the public schools so I finish early and can work around your schedule. I have been to the crag a couple of times now. It is easy to find so assuming I suffer no obvious brain damage in the next couple of days we should be good.

We can either ride the metro all the way to Cheongonyi or we can meet at Sungshin station and take two buses. Your call. I am cool with anything.

[gt29905]

Hey Jake, Thanks for the detailed directions. Is the gated ticket booth that closes at 6pm going to give me a problem coming in late on Fri night?

Two more questions. Can I get away with bringing a 50 meter or do I need to bring the 60.

Also, do I need to buy a ticket to Ganhyeon way in advance or can I just buy it right before the train leaves?

[dmclean]

Jake, more thanks for those awesome instructions. Gabe, I have a 60 meter rope that I am happy to share. I think that most of the climbs are doable with a 50 but I would tie a not in the end. Could someone give a better answer here.

[kocoeric]

50m rope is fine at Ganhyeon. Some of the double pitches are climbable with a 60M.

[gt29905]

Yeaaaaah... F'ing great weekend!

Who needs a life when you've got a climbing life.

[jsp1001]

It was very nice to see everyone. I thoroughly enjoy climbing every time I'm at Ganhyeon. Thanks again KA and Jake for your overall hospitality and planning.
Looking forward to (non-snow-capped) Daedunsan in early April!

[shanja]

Woah! What a weekend eh?
Despite the wild wild wind on Fri that curtailed the camping (well except for Gabe, Dave and Sophie (?) true hard-core types all) it was truly a delightful 3 days. Joe, as ever you are the man, thanks for the Vietnamese wraps and choco-smores!
Other people really need to be thanked beyond Kyung Ah and I though. So:
Gabe that was a really wonderful gesture bringing a 750mL of Jack Daniels to share, you are the salt of the Earth!
Mae-lin, once again you selflessly brought so much from base (funions, San Miguel, Guinness etc) and were a champ.
Layne, 효헌 and Jon who swung the axe and gathered wood for the campfire, late in the evening and dark.
Will and Les who ran up the leads on the Multi-pitches to retrieve stuck ropes (we nearly had the same issue when we rapped - tied a alpine butterfly in about 4m up from bottom, clipped in and jumped down...rope freed!).
To all the "new" faces, Brian, Gabe, Bryce, Layne, Rob, et. al it was so good to see you, meet you and get you cragging. Hope you had as good a time as we did.
As we found out, there were a few LOOSE BOLTS, some on the ANCHORS even:shocked: :eek8: So please please please be careful and try to back-up anything that is less than bomber. Taking a spanner/ wrench up on first ascents of a route is not such a bad idea...better than a trip to the hospital/ morgue anyways. And again, IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE TOP-ROPING A ROUTE MULTIPLE TIMES please run your top-rope through 2 quickdraws (one off each bolt) NOT the gated snap-link. You saw why on that nice 5.10a on the easy wall...the snap-link has been cut 2/3 the way through by wear and tear (I have put a steel link-ring on you can unscrew and use to rap also without leaving any draws).
Great weekend and too many people to say "thanks and it was great to see you" individually, so this one's for all of you!:rockon: