Hallasan - 8 November 2024

I was booked into the 5:00 to 08:01 slot. I had received confirmation in Kakao Talk, a sort of Korean WhatsApp. This needed to be translated in Google Translate. I was worried about changes in the weather and receiving messages in the small hours to say that the upper sections of the Seongpanak route were closed. However, this did not happen and I slept through to my 05:10 alarm. I was also unsure about how easy it would be to find a taxi so early in the morning, but everything was OK, one arrived well within 10 minutes. It is a 55minute drive from my apartment.

On arrival at the start, I was approached by a lady who told me to have my QR code ready for the man in the kiosk at the entrance to the national park. I explained that I only had my ARC (Alien Residency Card). She indicated that the ARC was fine. So the man at the Kiosk checked my ID and scanned my QR code before indicating that I could continue. Just imagine this sort of "carry on" at the start of the Pony Track up Ben Nevis. As this is the highest point in South Korea, I will make further comparisons to The Ben later.

While making my ascent by the Seongpanak trail which is 9.6km starting from the east at an altitude of 750m, it had always been my intention to he'd down the Gwaneumsa Trail which is 8.7km and drops down to the Gwaneumsa Information centre at 620m. Combined, the routes give 18.3km and just over 1200m of ascent. This compares to 17km and 1352m for Ben Nevis by the Pony/Mountain Track. So the Hallasan route is slightly further but with less ascent than the pony track/mountain track route up Ben Nevis.

The steps up to Hallasan (or Halle Mountain) began, up through deciduous woodland. It felt more autumnal here than lower down. The general temperatures back where I am living were still around the 16-18 °C mark so compared to the UK, it seemed more like September than November. There are "You are here" boards along the way which I appreciated in that I have not found a map of the area as yet and my GPS unit is back in Scotland. There are also cairns to let you know when you have reached certain altitudes at 100m intervals. Korea is very litigious and to avoid being sued, the national park goes to great lengths to ensure people's safety. Elsewhere in the world, one embarks on certain activities at one's own risk. Things seem to be viewed differently here.

The defibrillator stations reminded me that I am not getting any younger and my grandfather was only two years older than my current age when he had a heart attack. He did live for another 29 years though without any further heart attacks and my father is approaching his 88th birthday and never been seriously ill!

The Sorbet Shelter was reached with toilet facilities. A quick drink and I was off for the next section. I was passing several walkers for every one that overtook me and here I must have passed 30-40, most of which seemed to bee feasting on hot needles. The gradient eased off a bit. For me, it is strange to have gained so much height and to have not cleared the trees. As I was catching up a group of women, they suddenly became very excited. This had nothing to do with my arrival, but a large animal running through the vegetation. With the sound of snapping stems, I initially thought it was a deer as I have seen several asian roe deer on Jeju but then there were grunting noises (nothing to do with me walking uphill). It was then that I realised that it was a wild boar. It was running away, but paused and looked back at us in disgust. How dare we be there and get in the way of him heading to wherever he was trying to get to! I am not sure if the ladies were frightened or just excited about seeing a wild boar. It meant that as I passed them and shortly afterwards found myself in relative solitude, probably for the first and last time throughout the whole walk, I felt a little uncomfortable as I wondered if I was being stalked by the wild boar who was preparing to charge!

Everything was alright and I soon reached the Jindallabat shelter and the last toilet before the summit. You have probably realised by now that this is a great route for geriatric climbers with enlarged prostates!

This is where they close the gates if you have not arrived by 11:30. I arrived nearer 10:00 a.m. so I was comfortably within this time. I stopped for a bite to eat before passing a sign giving the winter and summer latest times at which you should leave the summit: 13:30 during October through to March and 14:30 from April through to September. This seems silly but then again, when I was s student, eighteen of us set off up Ben Nevis and broke up into smaller groups due to different paces. It was Easter 1985 or 1986, I think the former. I was part of the front group. The slowest group of four, two male and two female sat in the summit shelter for too long and descended in fading light, and ended up in Surgeon's gully. I know people more commonly find themselves in Five Fingered Gully, they were in Surgeon's Gully. I was quite fit back then so I would have headed back to the top and tried to improve my navigation on the second attempt to descend. They stayed put. The minibus driver and another drove up the glen while we ate and drank in a bar in Fort William. They saw flashing head torches and called the mountain rescue. This happened to coincide with a Channel 4 "Cutting Edge" documentary. The outcome was that the Mountain Rescue helped them down safely and they found themselves on TV. A latest time to leave the summit makes some sense but it does not take into consideration individual fitness or competence. 

There was little chance of getting lost, with a staircase ahead with orange ropes. There were some gaps in the wooden stairs but the national park authorities are working on that. After all, they do not want to be sued due to an injury. Higher up, I witnessed the ropes importance as man  lost his balance while descending and grabbed the rope. At this point the route develops into a dual carriageway as it climbs up over rocky terrain without any wooded steps though these continue at the summit. 

When I arrived at the summit, I could not see across the crater, but it periodically cleared. This is a Photoshop photo merge from 7 landscape shots. I want to walk the rim of the crater, but I am worried that I may be caught by the mountain police (OK Hallasan National Park personnel) and be banned from the mountain. There are trails without gates, but do not go to the summit. I need to explore these possibilities.

I took this to be a raven, but this is not in their range. It is in fact a ​large-billed crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)

I asked two different people to take my photo and this one is my favourite.

Having ascended by the Seongpanak route, I descended by the Gwaneumsa trail and I am glad that I visited the northern side of the mountain. It was possible a bit more varied but the steps were hard on the ligaments of the old knees. In the first of the photographs below, the man tried to get out of the way but I had already taken the photograph. In this instance, I think that the photograph is better with him in it.

It took me about 3h 30 minutes for the descent. I was taking my time but I would have expected to have been quicker than that. It took me almost as long going down as it had going up. The styles were closed though I am not sure if anyone would stop you if you went around the side as in descent

 A bit further beyond the exit was a kiosk where you could have a certificate printed. This has to be applied for by going to the visithalla website and uploading a photograph of yourself within 1 km of the summit. I had taken a few phone selfies on the summit. My phone battery was low and I was not successful on the first attempt, and I thought that maybe the location had been turned off so that the location was not in. the metadata (EXIF) of the image file. However, after connecting my phone to my power bank and several attempts, the code arrived in my email account and I was able to print off my certificate.

I am sure that many would not bother with the certificate but at 1000 Won (less than 60 pence), it's a nice little souvenir.