Aussie in Korea

[Colin T]

hi all,

I'm an Aussie student heading to Seoul to study for a year as of February next year.

By way of an introduction my name is Colin, I'm 20 and I've been climbing for about a year and a half (about 8 months seriously.

I'm very keen to keep climbing whalst in Korea, I climb a fairly solid 18-20 (Australian Ewbanks) here at home and I've got all my own gear (save for a rack, should I bring it all ??).

I love all climbing (trad, sport, bouldering, gym) and like to think I know what I'm doing :-) I've never been ice climbing before (hard to do in my country :-) but I'd love to learn.

I look forward to hooking up with the local climbing community (is there a big one in Seoul ?).

thanks guys

Colin
hypocrite_dude @ yahoo.com

[Eric]

Welcome to Korea on the Rocks.com and an early welcome to Korea.

You should definitely bring your gear, and if you have a rack before next February you should bring that too. On the outskirts of Seoul there is plenty of climbing at Insubong and surrounding areas where you need a rack. If you dont have one i'm sure you'll be able to find some climbers who do.

There are plenty of gyms in seoul as well. Ice climbing is not too far away and neither is sport climbing. But mostly trad in and around seoul.

You can buy most of the same stuff you can at home here but it usually is a bit more expensive. things to buy at home: rope, rack, quickdraws. Things to buy here: shoes, harness, helmut. At least those things are fairly inexpensive here.

Not a lot of bouldering going on though you can find a little at Insubong. (Look under rock climbing on this site you'll find insubong)

I have met a bunch of foreign climbers in seoul and there is a huge korean community of climbers there too. don't worry. you wont have a hard time finding a belayer.

Advice: As soon as you can, find a gym and meet the local climbers. Also, a car makes getting to the crag much easier and faster. they are cheap here! Be sure to make sure your new found partner's safety is at a level your are comfortable with! Somethings are a bit different here...

Hopefully we will be able to climb together next spring. Rock season really never ends here but it really starts rolling again in March!

Later
Eric

[Colin T]

hey Eric

cheers for the info mate, guess I know what to pack now (everything :-).

Doubt I'll be able to afford an entire rack before I head, but as I say I've got all the rest of the gear.

Any reccommendations on good gyms ? I have checked out the list on this (and other) sites but my Korean is as yet fairly limited so I don't really understand a lot of what's on the websites.

Getting my visa sorted as we speak, cannot wait, definately keen to meet for some climbing any time (depending on how my class scheduele turns out)

Colin