KOTR stands for Korea On The Rocks. I used it in the title of the first forum post and I guess it stuck.

I thought Korea On The Rocks was a funny play on words... turns out it's too long to say or type.

I created KOTR for 2 reasons: to find more places to climb and to take on a new web programming project.

In 2003, I loved climbing and was just starting to learn web programming. One night in late 2003 sharing beers with some friends, I tossed out the idea to build a web portal (because that's what you did in 2003, build web portals) for climbing in Korea. I thought it would be the perfect way to spend the few cold winter months and hopefully discover some new climbing areas in the process.

Fortunately, it succeeded on both fronts. By the time summer came around there were a dozen or so new climbing areas added to the website that I had never heard of! Also, I had improved my programming skills in the process.

That was me... Eric Busch. I started building KOTR in the fall of 2003. By the time spring rolled around in 2004, the site was built. It launched with most of the same features it has today; a place to add climbing areas, add photos, a links section and a forum.

About 1 week after KOTR launched, a member I did not know added a new climbing area near Daegu; Yeoungyeoung. This was awesome for 2 reasons: 1.) someone actually found KOTR and used it successfully and 2.) we had a new place to climb!

From May 2004 onward, almost all of the climbing areas and photos added to KOTR were added by hundreds of different climbers from all over the world.

I left Korea in July, 2007. I miss Korea, the friends I made and the climbs we shared every single day.

I keep a low profile on the web but you can somewhat find me here ericbusch.me and if we're friends you can find me here ericbusch.net or you can email me at eric [at] koreaontherocks.com.

KOTR was created April 6th, 2004. At least that's when the first climbing area was added to the website.

It's hard to believe that more than 10 years have gone by...