For winter break we’re given 24 days of holidays. TWENTY FOUR! There was so much time that finding when I could coincide it with allowed holiday breaks between January and February was like playing tetris. I plunked a little over 2 weeks down in between two long weekends in February to go down to Thailand and Burma, and then took the rest between Christmas and New Years to go down to Jeju Island.

Jeju island is like Korea’s Hawaii. So why go in the middle of winter? I’d read and heard and been told how beautiful hiking Mount Hallasan, Korea’s tallest peak,  is during Winter. I’d learned a few things from hiking Mount Fuji a few months prior, so I felt pretty comfortable doing this. And for 40,000 Won (~$50 Canadian) flights each way, why not.

I landed in Jeju City (Jeju-Si) Boxing day night. It’s easy enough getting around Jeju, there’s no inter-city coach style buses like on the mainland, but instead of a series of normal city buses which connect to the other towns through out the island.

Four Seasons In A Day

Hallasan may be shorter than Fuji, but the path was much longer. With no cabins on the way up to spend the night, you’re forced to do the 9 km in and 9 km out in one day also with signs through out the path showing check points you have to reach by certain times in the day(which were actually rather early in the day) or they won’t let you continue on to the top. Not every path leads to the summit as well, the only one that was open while I was there was the Seongpanak Trail.

Grabbing a city bus out of my hostel at quarter to 7, it was barely over half an hour to the base of the mountain. After a quick check of my barrings, I started hiking.

 

Check point cutoff times

The fact that Jeju is a semi tropical island, it was still rather temperate here compared to back home. Starting off on the hike, it felt like a spring day, with a good amount of humidity in the air and a fog settling in. The start of the hike is very peaceful and nice hike.

After 2 hours of hiking up the rather enjoyable grade the mountain had, snow started creeping in through the leaves and on to the path. It took one slip on the ice and I decided it was time to throw on the crampons.

Another hour of treking, it had started to get steeper and snowier. It was the first sign of real winter I’d seen since arriving in Korea, Ironically on a tropical island. Soon after that, the trail plateaus and you reach the second rest station. I didn’t stop as I was making good time and I wanted to get to the top.

It’s after the second station that the trail really starts to get steep. The last 2 km were easily harder than the previous 7 combined. But the mountain and tree’s provided good cover from the wind and the view above the fog was great.

After another hour and a half of slugging up the last few kilometers, it was nice to see I was almost there.

The last 2 km are tricky, but go by quick enough. It’s not long after you reach the crater.

There was almost zero wind hiking up, and it wasn’t until I got to the very top, that a sand blast of frigid air blew through me. The top was full of other people, mostly Korean, quickly trying to catch the shot of being at the top. No one wanted to spend too much time up there.

It being Korea of course, I still had full bars on my cell phone, so I did manage to skype home to family.

I’ll allow my self one selfie per trip. Have to make them count.

 

After a few pictures, a quick video call back home and some 7/11 kimbap triangles, I filled my being-cold quota for the day and started heading back down.

After recharging over some raymen noodles from the rest stop 3/4 of the way up, it was back on the trail.

About half way, the trail splits off to a crater lake as well as a look out point. The fog and clouds didn’t leave much to be seen, but it was still worth slugging it up another hill to see the area.

I’d filled my exploring need for the day and figured it was best to head on my way. Two more hours of walking down the hill, the snow started to dissipate and the temperature started rise.

After a quick plate of Kimbap, it was time to find the bus, and head on back to Jeju-Si.

As always, you can find all the pictures over at flickr.