A Harrowing Weekend

Videos from this weekend:


I particularly like the end of the first video...because Martin yells my name and it just makes me laugh hearing his voice.


This repel was really scary for me at the time...but now seems very easy compared to what came after.


So, this was the view on the final rock. I was the third of sixteen climbers to the top of this rock...so I had a while to chill and hang out before the final repel. The final repel was ~55-60 meters. About 180 feet. About half of it, ~30 meters, was free-hanging. What that means is that I was just dangling off two ropes and my harness, slowly repelling down. It was so fantastic, but let me first explain the conditions:

So, as you can see in the third video above, it was beginning to get dark by the time we were on the final rock. By the time we got everybody down the final repel, it was ~9:30pm...and it was dark. I should add that we all repelled down in the dark...Seoul looked beautiful afar from the mountain. A memory I will never forget, that is for sure.

When everybody got up to the final rock, we had to hang those same ropes down for the repel...unfortunately they got tangled on our first attempt and we had to pull the lead climber back up. It took 6 men. We fixed the ropes and each went down one by one...about 5 minutes from hook-up/prep time to the ground. So it took a while for 16 climbers to get down.

Part of me wonders if it was more soothing at night, this repel. I do not think the full shock of how high and exposed to the open world I was hit me in the night. A blessing in disguise perhaps. Regardless, it was a very cool feeling at night. I wish I could post a video here to do it justice.

We still had to hike down a rocky, ridgy path for 2.5 hours after we finished the repel. We did not get off the mountain until 12:30am. I was on that mountain for about 15 hours. One of our organizers fell on the way down and got pretty hurt...but I believe he will be alright. I spent the final two hours just walking with him, trying in some way shape or form to show gratitude for the amazing events he has graciously assembled for all of us.

Alan