I spent both Saturday and Sunday rock climbing this weekend. Saturday was here in Ulsan at Munsu Mountain, our typical haunt. One of our group of climbers, Dee, is heading back home to Canada this week and she wanted to see some of the other rocks faces. After a rip-roaring going away party on Saturday night, we all got up early and drove down to Busan to check out their mountains.

Nothing is terribly far away in Korea, although the lack of a multitude of highways, the mountainous countryside and the numerous cars on the road make any trip an adventure. It took us about an hour and a half to drive the 30 some kilometers to Busan. Once we got to the old fortress walls on Mt Geum Jeung, it took us about the same amount of time to find the cliff faces from the scanty directions we had. We scrambled our way among several paths (the directions said take “the” path without mentioning there were several) and we enjoyed the terrific view of central Busan from the top of Mt. Geum Jeung. We went back down and found the proper path, but not before taking a few pictures from the summit.

I usually like to just insert pictures, but this time I decided to put in a thumbnail photo and link to the real one. And another is here. Busan from Mt Geum Jeung There’s just too much detail to scrunch it all down in a web suitable shot. Behind and below me is Busan, with Busan National University in the foreground. In the far right behind me, buried in the haze, is the East Sea/Sea of Japan. I would have taken several more, but my camera batteries died early.

The mountain itself is ringed with the remains of a stone fortress dating back several hundred years. Numerous trails thread their way through the lush and hundreds of Koreans, old and young, hike the trails every weekend.

When we finally found the cliff walls, it was almost anti-climatic. The routes we exceedingly difficult, with 5.10a being the easiest there. It was like taking a long drive just to take a beating. We all climbed several, though, and I led a 5.10b, which completed my day. After the climb we drove back into Busan for a tasty meal of Kalbi before heading back to Ulsan.

On the way it started to rain. We’d finished an entire weekend with the rain finally coming at the end when it no longer mattered.

It’s 9:30 Sunday evening and I’m settling in for an hour or two of movies and some warm compresses for my worn out fingers.