So, before Shan came to Korea, we made a point to climb one mountain together and I saved Bukhansan for her cos it's pretty accessible - ok actually no, it's all rather out of the way and we woke up really early on Saturday to get there.
And I was freezing. I think I under-dressed haha what's new (this trend is to follow in upcoming posts of my mountain climbing adventures + I'm always freezing on the way to climb mountains. I only feel better during the climb haha) but there wasn't enough time to turn back so we could only go forward!
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| Underdressed me lol in my standard thin mountain climbing clothes |
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| And we're here!! |
We didn't know how to start lol so anyway if you're there, um what we did was we took the route that was on the left of the Bukhansan National Park sign. Haha and when we came down, we ended up coming down the route that was on the right of that sign.
Also, we were not appropriately attired and as snow had already begun, the ground was icy and rather slippery. I was wearing sports shoes and the woman at the information center saw my shoes and disapproved haha. Met other climbers along the way too and they also thought we were pretty crazy for climbing up the mountain in inadequate shoes. Most of them had spikes on.
Btw, when I say "climb" I actually mean..... "walk" haha but it's an upward walk so yeah. Miley says "It's the cliiiiiiimmmmbbbbbbb" anyway. HAA
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| Saw someone built a snowman! Shan posed with it afterward lolol |
And above, you can see, is the route we took! It shows the level of difficulty and steepness haha but we didn't actually make it to the top because...it was really steep and slippery. Haha.
We climbed for a bit before giving up and going back down and it was so hard to go down?? We practically slid down on our butts haha ok we squatted down and slowly moved downwards. On another note, I would like to add that Shan was wearing (albeit cui) hiking shoes and she slipped more times than me hahaha I was wearing my pair of New Balance running shoes (630v2 fyi if you're interested lolol) and I hardly slipped at all!! Despite the icy wet ground.
So anyway, this was the view from somewhere almost near the top. I think we were about less than 100m climb up from the peak.
And then we climbed back down a little more to this arch structure where we stopped to have our kimbab and water in the cold, just like the Koreans do.
(I kid, Koreans are way more prepared, they have cup noodles and hot water in tumblers to cook the cup noodles - it's an elaborate affair. I only ever brought bread and kimbab up the mountains I climbed hahaha)
Freezing cold by the time we made our way back down so we ended off with some delicious piping hot ramen!! LUV IT. MY FAV FOOD (i ate a whole lot of processed food and unhealthy stuff in Korea haha one of my fav loner meals involves microwaved rice and a packet of seaweed/seasoning lol everyone thinks I'm crazy but I love rice!!!!)
Awww brb reliving my exchange hashtags HAHAHA man it's been 33 weeks ago?! Haih
There are several ways to get to Bukhansan National Park, and this is the one we took.
Bukhansan National Park
Gupabal Station (Subway Line 3), Exit 1
Take Bus 704 bound for Bukhansanseong Fortress (북한산성)
Get off at the Bukhansan Mountain entrance bus stop
There are lots of mountaineering shops in the area which you will pass on your way up to the mountain. It's pretty exciting. I recommend going on the weekend because there will be more people and it will be less easy for you to get lost! We kinda followed the crowd to find the right bus stop for the mountain when we exited the subway station haha
It might take some time travelling there so I recommend leaving early! Early bird catches the worm anyway~
Also, if I ever go back to Korea (and I sure hope I do!), I will climb Bukhansan again and this time I will make sure I make it to the top!! Haha maybe i'll try the other routes up the mountain hmm