Chiaksan -Bori Peak

I quite enjoyed my trip to Chiaksan.  The park seems more public friendly, with more signs and difficulty ratings for various parts of the hike are all described.  It was another day of great weather and I started cold but was soon carrying my coat.  At the peak, the wind was gentle enough that I rested there a bit before descending.

On the way to the parking lot, I found this sign.  I've seen signs for tanks elsewhere in Gangwondo but not in Sokcho-Yangyang and I was happy to finally photograph one.

I had likewise seen this type of caccoon elsewhere but hadn't taken a picture of it.  A coworker suggested that it was chemically tricking the tree into retaining the leaf, perhaps as a temperature control measure.  I have no idea what's inside it.

Handsome guy with no coat:

Please click to embiggen this picture.  I am quite proud of how the ice crystals turned out.

Near the peak, perhaps around 1000 metres, the snow crystals on the ground changed shape.  I am no Inuit, but I do recognize different types of snow.

At the peak:  Chiaksan is enough lower than Seoraksan, that despite the very steep climb and descent, my knees were not totally worn down.

After my hike, I drove around a little looking for a grocery store.  I didn't find one - I didn't look too hard- but I did find a reservoir where many people were having fun.  Some people were fishing for Bongeo - similar in shape and size to a smelt in Ontario- and kids were sitting on sleds and pushing them with spiked sticks - traditional sledding.

I have more photos and some video, but I will post those after returning home and using something other than this poor nine-year-old notebook.  It has served me well this camp, but it doesn't have many features (Thanks go out to Firefox, which has breathed new life into it.  Google Chrome won't run on it).

A Winter Tradition

We had a great swim.  The final still shows west-bound traffic on highway 50.  A whole lot of  people came to see us swim.  One hour to get to the beach, five hours to get back to camp!

hiking above hwa-am Temple

I hiked above Hwa-am temple several years ago with my wife and infant son.  It was  a good hike with great views of the ocean-side of Ulsan Bowi.  To start this post, I have included a photo of Ulsan Bowi, but not one taken from the peak.

The reason this photo was not taken during the hike is, the wind was horribly strong and cold.

You might wonder how windy it was and how I could demonstrate that to you.  Look at this photo of the handsome man (click to bigify):

Now, where are his glasses?  He has been photographed begging for help in finding them after they blew right off his face and partway down the mountain.
Back to first-person: I twisted to take a picture and the glasses were pulled right off my face.  I saw them fly through the air and bounce a few times, landing in the scrub behind me in this photo.  I pitifully begged for help finding them, my voice made even more pathetic by the wind filling my cheeks and making me sob.

We found the glasses.  They, and my eyelashes, had a lot of frozen tears on them.

Okay, it was that windy.

Helping me look was my friend Matthew.

Again with the wind, you can see how I have braced my legs to stand still to take the picture.

Actually, the day was plenty bright enough and I'm sure the pictures were at a fast enough exposure that a little camera shake didn't matter.
The temple below was beautiful but we didn't stay long.

I had forgotten how short this hike was.  We started hiking after 8:00am, leaving plenty of time to do the hike.  We were in the car, thawing before 10:00.  We could have taken more time at the top if the weather had been clement.

Matthew also took pictures so more may grace this blog in the near future.

Polar Bear Swim

I enjoy Polar Bear Swims and am looking forward to doing at least one this winter.

These swims are usually festive events, and I did them at Bracebridge's Winter Carnival.  Here, we have three possible days coming up - I am willing to swim on all three days if others will join me.

Who is interested and when?

Friday, December 25: Christmas
 A coworker, Jeff, is interested in a Christmas Day swim and he lives about halfway between Sokcho and Gangneung.

Friday, January 1: New Year's Day

February 13-15: Lunar New Year

This should be a link to a link to a video of last year's swim.

obligatory ski post

I enjoy skiing  but have typically kept to nordic skiing because I could start at my doorstep in Canada and could afford to go every day.  Downhill skiing is a little too pricy for my taste but I go out when I can.  Still, in a blog devoted to Gangwon Province, I need to at least mention skiing now and then.

The Joongang has an article about ski hills, mostly in Gangwon, that offers plenty of detail.

Currently, there are 16 ski resorts in South Korea, with the number of fans of skiing and snowboarding rising annually.

Those craving a world-class experience should try Yongpyong Ski Resort in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon Province, which is once again trying to host the Winter Olympic Games. Nearby Phoenix Park ski resort is known for its spectacular scenery. You can reach High1 Resort in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province by train, and if you want to stay closer to Seoul then Konjiam Resort in Gwangju County, Gyeonggi Province is the way to go.

...

[High1] Staff members dress up and entertain skiers waiting to board the gondolas with magic shows, pop quiz games and raffles.

I have not been to High1, but they do a lot of do a lot of advertising and promotions in Sokcho.

Read the article for more details.

Enjoy winter in Gangwon

The Herald has an article titled, "Climb and carve your way out of the winter blues" The 'blues' they write about seem to be those suffered by people living in tropical areas. I hope the tourism plans are well supported by more than awkward slogans as Gangwon could be well situated for such tourism.

I am disappointed, however, that the 'carve' in the title seems to describe how to ski or snowboard rather than carve wood. I would like to attend a workshop or two in that field.

Anyway, here is an excerpt:

Gangwon Province for one has begun actively promoting its various ski and snowboard resorts to potential tourists especially from all over Southeast Asia.

The province recently invited 120 Thai tourists from Chiang Mai for a tour of Nami Island - where the hit Hallyu television drama "Winter Sonata" was filmed - as well as an idyllic trek through the foliage covered Seorak Mountain.

A group of 16 travel agency executives from Malaysia were also invited on an excursion around the province's key attractions along with an introduction of various winter travel packages they had in store for potential inbound Malay tourists.

Last month, a travel seminar was held in Taiwan - considered the biggest market for Korean winter travel packages - where major travel agencies and brokers congregated for a summit to further enhance inbound winter tourism to Korea.

Of them, one of the new packages developed specifically for tourist from Taiwan was a tour tied to the forthcoming Hwacheon Ice Fishing Festival to be held early January next year.

One bit of snark, already covered by the writer:

A package aimed at potential Russian tourists will commence this winter season called "Rus-Ki," in the province's efforts to reach further out to non-Asian regions.

Although organizers might want to change the name of that package for obvious reasons pertaining to it being an offensive epithet which was used on Russians by American soldiers during the days of the cold war.

The article goes on to describe ice climbing and where you could try it in Gangwon as well as gives contact information for some ski resorts.

With the recent surprise of waking to snow, I think people are currently excited about winter. A state which dries up about mid February - the excitement, I mean.

Autumn leaves and early snow on campus

The classrooms were well heated today- I'm really impressed with the physical plant people being on the ball and turning the heating on. Good work, guy.

This meant that I could enjoy the falling snow and not be inconvenienced by it. I will get sick of it, I am sure, but the first snowfall is always beautiful - also, I didn't have to drive today.

Some students seem mixed up about when Hallowe'en was. Kidding. Elections for student council are coming up and campaigning means looking silly hereabouts (why don't I have a permanent position?)

whole lotta snow here

I planned to check out the peaks to see if they were white-capped but I didn't have to look so far away -and I couldn't see that far, because it's snowing right here in town.

I took some photos but won't be able to upload them until this afternoon. I'm loving the fall colours edged with white.

Surprise: more snow

I thought the last snow had been at the beginning of March. Surprise.

I don't expect this to last long: it's pretty wet stuff.

Really exciting stuff - for KwandongAlex

My little guy, as with all little guys, loves big machines. In our apartment, we have three excavators and five dump trucks, a few trains and many fire trucks (as displayed in a previous post). Oh, the trucks and such in our apartment aren't that big, I just want to be clear.
Anyway, I thought that snow removal in Sokcho consisted of dumping snow from the roads into the ocean - the melt water and carried pollutants will end up there in any case.

Apparently not. In Expo Park, a vacant parking lot is up to 15 metres deep in snow. We, KwandongAlex and I, watched six or seven dump trucks unload their cargo there in about the same number of minutes. Both Excavator drivers waved to KwandongAlex - They must know that their job is the dream and main aspiration of all boys under 5, 10...ah, heck, I would love to know how to drive one.

They could've hosted the Olympics

Pyeongchang is reporting heavy snowfall today. I notice that Seorak's highest peak is still white as well.

First snowfall of the Fall.

Thursday was cold and the rain and drizzle that fell all day felt even colder. I was not surprised to see Seoraksan snow covered on Friday morning but I was surprised to see how far down the slopes the snow actually reached.
The Korea Times has a photo.

In previous years, the first snow fall was typically later in November with 2003 having the earliest fall: November 14 (probably the first year I recorded dates). My pictures of previous years can be found here.

Snow in Sokcho

At first, I was a little jealous of the Nomad who had snow early in the morning and felt Sokcho might get no snow at all.

Soon after ten this morning it started to snow here. Actually, it started to hail. Iceballs rattled the windows for a while and gradually became snow.

You might be surprised that a Canadian would be so excited about snow. It was KwandongAlex's first snowfall he could be outside for.

He was not excited nor happy. We came in very quickly. As we expect high winds all day, I doubt he will spend much more time outside. We'll see.