climbing with the natives

[kigga34]

so i got hooked up with some of the natives and i think i'll be heading up insubong this weds. i'm a little worried about the communication barrier tho. i believe we'll be doing multi-pitch (unless there's a lot of single pitch and bouldering spots) sport or trad. anyone have any exp climbing with natives? what were the calls they used (on/off belay, climb on/off, take, etc.)? i don't wanna end up killing somebody cuz i didn't learn enough korean prior to the climb. any advice/help would be great. thx

[skinsk]

Back when I was first in Korea, 1998 (pre-KOTR!) I climbed exclusiely with Koreans (foreign climbers were so few and far between). I did the obligatory twice a year treks to Insubong. "Sonia, EVERYBODY is going. . . " and I was part or everybody (I had the green and orange T-shirt of our gym) so of course, I went and it's certainly the "Korean experience". . . that said, I don't know your climbing experience level. By the time I arrived in Korea I was very experienced in aid/ice/trad/sport/mountans, and well, after a few months with the "natives" I was a strong climber, even granite slabs. As you are going on a Wednesday, you won't have to worry about the biggest hazards, the Sat evening partying/soju (after my first "gym" Sunday, I brought my tent and earplugs, but joined everyone else for everything else) and the Sunday madhouse of climbers of every abilty/experience and level. . .

Wednesday will be awesome.

If you are not very experienced, either start reading, googling, etc, because while my gym/partners were basically careful (Seoul Sport Climbing Center), once of the plaques at the base of Insubong was dedicated to the gym owner's fiance, who died there of rockfall. His then-fiance (now ex-wife) always wore a helmet. Not a bad idea. Use common sense; double check yourself and your partner; watch how the folks you'll be with belay. . . pantomime and pictionary until you are comfortable. If something looks dodgy, trust your common sense and ask, question or refuse.

Don't assume everyone you're with knows what he's doing (I have seen many good/bad Korean climbers/methods and many good/bad foreign climbers/methods here. . . it's amazing with how many close calls and adrenaline rushes we live through safely, but it catches up, and often a little common sense, info, communication or knowledge might help. If you are not familiar with multipitch climbing, you might go over anchors etc on the bottom. Depending on how many people are going, one problem in Korea is chaos at a belay station, where people are clipping in and out of the same anchor. Be sure you (and everyone else) are always either on belay or clipped into the anchor. Most routes have fixed anchors at the belays. A few of the trad-routes require you to set your own. There should be at least 3 solid pieces, more for 3+ people. . . the lead rope should run through a separate anchor or early placement so the belayer won't be jerked off should the leader fall. Good time to have a daisy chain or sewn sling girth-hitched to your harness with a locking biner on the end to easily clip in/out. If a lot of shuffling is going on, be sure you are not unclipped in the confusion.

Have you rappelled? Many routes have some free-rappels in part. If you're not sure of the set-up for your belay device, you might try to find out before-hand. You can back it up with a prussik if you're uncomfortable, especially if there are several raps and you stop on a ledge.

Wed will unlikely see any other climbers. I went a few times on weekdays, with friends from the gym, and a team for Man and Mountian Magazine, all folks I was very comfortable and confident with, and able to communicate at least a bit with (most Koreans use the English "tension", understand "take" and actually use Konglish for most climbing terms).

That said, have fun. Insubong can be a blast, even on a typical Sunday, and you can really bond with your gym, meet people, and get in some good climbing! As they say, a bad day of climbing (as long as no one gets hurt!) is better than a good day at work. . . Give us a trip report!

[ricardo]

kigga,
i can't speak for climbing with koreans nor insubong, but my first 'real' multipitch experience was with a frenchman with choppy english. i was hesitant since i had only 1 year old training and the communication barrier.
he understood and was very patient with me. we spent about a half hour at the base going over my few questions, but mostly the calls. french calls can be quite different from the ones i learned and with the strong accent i even misunderstood the equivalent calls.
i was ready to bail on the multipitch unless i was damn sure we understood each other. after the 1/2 hour discussion i did feel comfortable with the communication and off we went.
i found that communication on the rock and out of sight from each other was significantly more difficult than on the ground face to face. from sk's post it sounds like korean calls are similar, but watch out for the accent. keep discussing until you're confident.
have fun!!
-r

[kigga34]

hey thanks for the support, but i think you've succeeded at scaring me sh*tless. :lol:

the whole accent thing won't throw me off too much. i'm gyopo, but just can't speak/understand very well. but if the calls are in konglish, it shouldn't be too bad. and i've done a bit of multipitch before (trad) out in cali, but the gym's pretty much the mainstay of my exp (2 yrs) in climbing/leading. i've never bailed on a route before, so rappelling/prussiking is not my forte, even though i technically know how.

i'm semi-confident tho. i'll be going with the gym owner and a few others, and since it's weds, it shouldn't be crowded at all. they've got all the gear i need that i forgot to bring anyways. just wish me luck, i suppose. and i'll do a trip report when i get back. cheers!

[ricardo]

you're gyopo??? what's that?

no need to be scared $#i+less, especially if you've done it before and understand konglish / accents.

just wanted to throw in that rappelling is very common on successful multi pitch climbs (required as far as i know (sans serious creativity)) unless you walk out. one person could be lowered down 2 pitches (know 2 pitch length vs rope length!) in an odd situation (emergency on the last 2 pitches) but the second has to rappel anyway (and only half the distance) so usually both rappel to each anchor station. rappelling is not limited to bailing. (i may have misunderstood your comment)
the prussik is just a back up if you're not comfortable rappelling. if your hand slips, a rock nails you in the head, etc. the prussik will catch you. there are several rappelling backups, but i've found prussiks to be the easiest.

i'm not an authority on multi pitch so someone chime in if i'm off base...

[littledigits]

I just got back from a trip off of the same mountain range Bukhansan which Insubong is part of. It was an awfully tough climb but very fun. My body's in full ache today. It's going to be super cold and you'll get a bit of frost bite on your fingers if your doing 5.10 crags. Some of the terms they use are "hagang" for coming down and "ten" or "take" for tension and "chool" which means rope for slack and "nakso" for anything that's falling down. Everything else will be pretty universal like everyone understands "stop" and "go". I'm gyopo too and people on the most part understand you might not understand everything so they'll use a lot of body language and you should too. Have a good time and take care of your extremities.

[skinsk]

Well, I am just looking at my giant fold-out topo of Insubong and it appears that all 41 routes require rapelling (i.e. no walk off). . . I've rapped the dozen or so times I've been.

That said, if you have rapelling experience, you should be good to go. And I've yet to meet a gym OWNER who was incompetant (though it could happen-- the ones I know are excellent and experienced climbers), so don't be scared, just use good judgement and if you are unsure (of commands, of why something is done, etc) ask and ask again, bring a pad and pen and draw. . . preferably get things worked out (i.e. if you need/want to learn the prussik, review what terms you'll use, determine order of climbing, or want/need to review rapelling) while you're still on the ground.

Good point in the previous post-- you're going to be warm climbing and cold on belay-- bring several layers that can be easily removed and added!! You'll likely carry your pack up the whole way, so bring what you need, but no extra. Bring enough of any given snack for everyone!!

HAVE FUN!!

[kigga34]

yeah, i'm not too worried about rappelling. i've done prussiking/rappelling in simulation (a friend and i practiced rappelling/prussik a couple times on a safe single pitch), but never on an actual climb, and it's been a while too. a quick refresher is probably all that's needed.

but it's that cold huh? i'm a californian so i'm REALLY not used to this weather. how bad was the frostbite?

[littledigits]

It depends on how long or how hard you hold on to the rocks. Those who are pretty experienced fly up and really don't spend much hang time on the holds but those like me who aren't and who try to find the better hold spend more contact time and therefore more exposure to the cold. They're not called little digits for nothing. Since you haven't been up these routes before I would advise as much hot air blowing on your fingers whenever you get the chance and since it's in the mountains it will be quite a bit colder than street level. Bring a parka to carry in your bag and wear something lighter when you're hiking the approach. Cheers.:cheer2:

[skinsk]

Oh, and 'pits are convenient "hand warmers" too, en-route (breath often freezes up and makes them colder).

[littledigits]

Hey, frost bite's got its advantages. Noooo pain.