Climbin in Seoul 20-22

[Crackbuster]

Hi,
I am going on a vaccation i Korea for three weeks together with my (non climbing)wife. At sep. 20-22, I will be in Seoul and I would like to do some climbing in the evening if possible. Are there anyone how could make me company to a nice wall or indoor climbing gym in the city?
Please let me now, that would be great!

(I bring only shoes and harness)
/Andreas

[griddable]

pick your poison, if you've got a harness you may want to get on the ropes. Seoul's geography is really interesting, with small mountains throughout the city, with some pretty reasonable approaches to mostly granite slab crags. Plenty of artificial outdoor walls as well, if your climbing partner has a rope and draws you can hit up pretty much any of these walls for free.

Most of the gyms in Seoul are bouldering basements, with I think three main exceptions:

K2 near Kongkuk university station: I had a mixed experience at this gym, and can't say it was really worth the price of admission, though this was about 9 months ago. I didn't touch their vertical wall, though.

The North Face Climbing Center at Suyu station. I am a member here, and I wrote the gym entry. Love this place, and they'll lend you a rope.

and O2 World (Kolon Sports?): I haven't been to this place, and i don't know how accurate the gym info still is, but I hear it's big and nice.

[Crackbuster]

It looks good. Nice walls and bouldering at your place at the NF Climbing Center. O2, is quite close to the North Face than?

How long time would it take to get to The Northe Face from the center of Seoul by train/bus or taxi?

[griddable]

NF is at Suyu station on the blue line (#4), it's accessible without a transfer from Seoul Station or Dongdaemun in about 20-30 minutes on the subway or so. O2 world is further north, and you'd need to take a bus from Suyu to reach it (see the gym pages for more detailed directions).

Taxis wouldn't save you much time over the subway to Suyu, and from Seoul Station would probably run close to 20,000 won (compared to... 1100 or 1300 for the subway?). Whatever you're comfortable with though.

map for reference:

[Crackbuster]

Thanks a lot. That map I will save to my mobile
Is the names and numbers in the subway written in latin letters? Otherwise I find it a bit difficult to navigate in the city. I have heard that few Koreans speak english.

[griddable]

if you have an iphone or ipod touch there is a free app called "Seoul Metro Lite" which has an interactive map for reference. The signage in Seoul is pretty great, you should be able to navigate it rather easily. Station attendants may also be helpful. And I'm actually surprised by how many people here speak English. If you stop enough people you're bound to get lucky; more often than I'd expect I've asked people for help only to find out they're actually Korean-American or Australian and speak impeccable English.

If you get a mobile, you can always call the Tourism help line, 02-1330. They will help you with pretty much ANYTHING, from calling you a cab to getting you unlost to helping you make reservations or even ordering delivery pizza.