Type: Trad, 500 ft (152 m), 8 pitches, Grade II
FA: unknown
Page Views: 2,988 total · 32/month
Shared By: Nate D on Sep 3, 2016
Admins: Chan Kim

You & This Route


10 Opinions
Your To-Do List: Add To-Do ·
Your Star Rating:
Rating Rating Rating Rating Rating      Clear Rating
Your Difficulty Rating:
-none- Change
Your Ticks:Add New Tick
-none-
Use onX Backcountry to explore the terrain in 3D, view recent satellite imagery, and more. Now available in onX Backcountry Mobile apps! For more information see this post.

Description Suggest change

This route is an 8 pitch (with some walking in between pitches) trad route on the east side of InsuBong in Bukhansan National park, South Korea.

The route is very moderate and has tons of great pro placement, so it is a good introduction to multi-pitch rock climbing.

Every pitched out section is about a 5.6

There is a cave which has some annoying boulders you have to navigate which is hard with a pack on .

Oddly enough, the hardest part of the climb is this 10-15 foot slab just below the summit. There are no anchors, no bolts, no places for pro. You just have to solo it to summit. There are some tiiiiny foot and handholds scraped into the rock in just few enough places to make it awkward. To top it off, the slab is practically polished and greased from the huge amount of traffic that comes up the route. Its sketchy because if you fall, it will be a scrape fest all the way down to to some uneven rocks with significant ankle damage potential. You will want some partners to physically spot you on this portion of the route.  Not super serious, certainly doesn’t warrant a PG-13 or anything.

After that, the far side of the summit offers a rope-assisted walk down to a single rappel station where a double-rope 60m rappel should reach the bottom. Use the farthest right rappel station. If you go left, double 60m ropes may not be enough. I would not advise trying the rappel with anything less than 2x60m ropes. I have no idea if any intermediate anchors exist, and it is a sheer cliff.

Location Suggest change

The best way to reach this route is to head right across a boulder covered stream just before the ranger station on the standard Bekundae trail from Ui-Dong, and follow the somewhat ambiguous climbers trail up through the gully until the giant slab of Insubong is obvious. Trace the base of insubong to climbers right until you get below the obvious crack of Chuinard A. (see that posting for a picture) From there, scramble further to the right a few meters and make your way up some class 3/4 terrain to the start of the pitch. It is somewhat hard to find, I will try and get some pictures someday when I have a chance. You can also google 고독의길 등반 and have someone who knows Korean run you through the many Daum blogs out there that are full of photos.

Protection Suggest change

Know that many people will run out every pitch all the way to the top, only placing pro here and there, if at all. Simul Climbing and short roping are other potential techniques that get seen here. Don't be surprised if a group just flys right by you using no protection from anchor to anchor.

However if you are planning on protecting this climb to gain trad experience, warm back up after a hiatus from trad climbing, or any other number of good reasons to fully protect each pitch, bring a set of cams, .3 through 2 were used the most, with doubles in .75-2, and there were a couple places were smaller and larger would work. Brought nuts, never used them. Usually used a 60cm sling on each cam, many route wander. Pitch 4 is a straight line zipper though.

Photos

loading