Aug. 1 - Aug. 7: Back to Ganhyeon

Well, after five days back at work and lovely nights sleeping in my own bed again, I decided to head back into the Korean wilderness for another fantastic weekend of camping and climbing in Ganhyeon. Saturday morning, I met up with Seb and my new climbing friend Erin at the bus station and we made our way southeast to my new favorite climbing spot.

We arrived around 11:00 am and got geared up for a full day of climbing. Erin left that evening, and then the rains began to pour. Since neither Seb or I have a tent, we pondered sleeping on top of a table in one of the make-shift, covered outdoor restaurants. Fortunately, the rain began to let up around bedtime, and we huddled under a tarp for the evening's slumber.

Climbing Ajumma...this old lady was tearing up the rock...pretty impressive at 72!

The next morning we awoke bright and early for another day of climbing. Unfortunately, the rains came again around lunchtime, and just as we had thrown in the towel and packed everything up, the sun decided to reappear. Since the main rock wall was pretty busy (as many Koreans have to work on Saturday and do all of their activities on Sundays), we tackled one of the multi-pitch climbs. This is where one person climbs up a wall, hooks him/herself into the top, and belays the other climber up. Repeat. Repeat again. By the third pitch, the climb was practically impossible. Even Seb, who is an excellent climber, was having some difficulties. Amazingly, I made my way up, and we enjoyed the beautiful view from the top of the mountain.

We finally climbed back down and headed home. I am exhausted...maybe one of these days I'll allow myself some rest!