Rock climbing in Mungyeong

The rock doesn't look very steep but, appearances can be deceiving
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So, this weekend I decided to do something more exciting so I signed up for a weekend trip of rock climbing and hiking. I've never done anything like this before (the rock climbing, not the signing up for trips..) and I have a bit of a fear of heights, so it seemed a good idea to go along with a group where I would be a) with professionals who would look after me if I got stuck, and b) I hoped there would be someone worse at it than me..! I got a very early start on Saturday morning; the group was leaving from Seoul, but as Jincheon is on the way to the mountain I was getting collected at Chungju, a bigger city also in our province. But, it still meant an early start to take the hour and a half bus ride to get there on time. Once I'd joined the rest of the group there was just a short 30 minute ride to get to the adventure centre and our cabins for the night. It was a beautiful morning, cold but very fresh and sunny. It boded well for the weekend, especially after Friday had been constant heavy rain the whole day. The group seemed to be made up of mostly Canadians, I can honestly say I didnt realise there were so many of them in South Korea. Also, pretty much everyone in the group were English teachers living in Seoul. There was only myself and an Australian girl who worked in Jinju. There were a few Americans, a few Koreans and a girl from the Netherlands who helped form the rest of the minority... Shortly after arriving, we were all assigned into our sleeping rooms; huge big communal rooms with underfloor heating (so nice to sit on a heated floor!) and after dumping our stuff we headed out to start the afternoon. The centre provided all the equipment, harnesses,ropes, helmets etc for us and there was quite a lot of comedy fumbling around as we tried to figure out how to strap ourselves in. Not the most flattering of fashion accessories as to make sure we had attached ourselves properly the staff came round to hoist, pull and strap us in to our butt hugging harnesses. Once fully wedged we started a number of warm up exercises, ie. star jumps... so we jangled up and down til we were quickly out of breath and after one last check that we were correctly strapped in, the guides sent us off up the hill to the rock...

Waiting at the bottom for our turn.
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I have to admit that on a first glance it didnt look too daunting and a few people were commenting on how easy it looked. There were a couple (of Canadians) who had done some serious, (if you took them at their word...) climbing, and were booting up with proper looking shoes. It became quite apparent after the first few climbers went up, that it wasn't as easy as it looked. You had to use hands as well as feet to get a grip and those with slippy-soled trainers went up a couple of steps only to slide back down again. The guides at the top were holding taut on the rope so there was no danger of sliding too far back, but from below it didnt look too dignified. Spiderman we werent.... I, somehow, managed fine ;-P... I put that down entirely to having bought some decent walking shoes/trainers not too long ago and the grip on the soles was still pretty much intact... but nevertheless I could feel every muscle and every muscle of a muscle gripping on for dear life. It was very, very hard work...

Once at the top the fun wasnt over. We had to come back down..backwards...

There was encouragement all the way up!
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Once at the top the fun wasnt over. We had to come back down..backwards... Actually this bit I quite liked. I dont like heights and I dont like standing on the edge of a height and this was no different. In order to be looped onto the rappeling rope we had to balance at the top, not hold onto the rope and let the guide fiddle about with our harnesses. But, the harness felt really firm (good job I had been wedged in super firmly..) and the more I got to trust it wasnt going to snap the more confident I got about dangling over the edge. There is something completely exhilerating about recognising your fear and staring it down. To get the rope moving you need to push your hips back and down, keeping your legs straight and then step (or jump) back while feeding the rope through your hands. It took me a while to get into any kind of rhythym; I would let the rope out and expect instantly to start moving backwards, only to be stuck in the same place wondering why I wasnt elegantly rappeling backwards SAS style. But, once I got the hang of it, it was a disappointingly quick way to get back to the ground....

At the top, we had a chance to sit and enjoy the view while we waited to rappel back down.
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And, the fun wasnt over just yet. Right around the corner was an even bigger rockface. This time we werent climbing, just rappeling down. There were only 2 ropes so there was a bit of a wait for those of us at the back of the line, and the sun was disappearing so it was starting to freeze up, but the wait was worth it. Again there was the heart bursting out of mouth moments while standing at the top... this rock was higher, almost vertical and from the top the ground was nowhere in sight. It was an amazing buzz to be dangling over the edge. The hardest part this time was trying to keep steady. It was all too easy to start swinging from side to side and lose your footing (and your dignity with the inelegant scrabbling for grips!). This time I tried to go slower to make the most of it, but even so I was back on the ground way too quickly. By now the light was going so we headed back to the cabins where some of the other members of the team had prepared a camp fire and a barbecue was underway. Heaps of great food; soup, rice, kimchi, tofu (and meat), chocolate banana boats, soju, so after quick showers we all settled around the fires to relax and look forward to the next day....