Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rgreen8314]

thanks Ippy! awesome review. i just bookmarked the long one with the slope map so i can reread it before i go. sounds like the harmony lift is definitely the way to go. after reading the first half of this post i was thinking "well, screw snowboarding in korea, i'll just wait till i'm back in colorado..." but thankfully things got better for ya and now i'm definitely going to make some plans soon for a day trip. i've only been riding twice but i think they were a very productive two days (unless the people i was with were just flattering me) and i could handle those korean blacks at the top considering everything i've read says they'd just be blues in the states and i can definitely handle those...

a few questions...

how did the gwangju package thing work out? two hours on the bus sounds way better than the 3.5 on the public one. do they only run their offer on weekends or do they run a bus daily? although it sounds like if you hang out at the top going on a weekend won't affect you too much... i don't live in gwangju but i'm not far from it, i guess i could spend the night before by the bus terminal... if i call that number do they speak english or should i get a co-teacher to help?

always curious about the money... how much did your day cost you (ballpark)?

thanks again for the great review...

[ippy]

[ippy]

[ippy]

I just have to say this. When i went on my first trip to Togari onsen in japan there was this run that scared the crap out of me. I remember looking over the edge utterly terrified and thought if i tried it i would literally die. I had to lie down to look over the edge because i was that sure id lose my balance. It must have been 70 degrees at LEAST!!! I dunno why, but i suddenly remembered it today and popped on to snow japan to ask about it. I guess it seems like i can handle it now, so i figure ill go back there and slay that japanese dragon.

So anyway, i asked about this run of death so i could find out if i really could have a crack at it - 70 i can probably do, but 80 and above might be too much for me. Someone replied with the following:

[ty7180]

I think we're going to try your package deal you mentioned this weekend. I hate the idea of spending New Years weekend in our litttle town. Last time we went to Muju we had to take so many busses it almost turned me off from going. We had to go from Samcheonpo to Jinju to Dajeon to Muju, then take the shuttle and do it all over the next day! We'll probaly spend Friday night in Gwangju and take the early tour you mentioned Saturday Morning. That should still let us take the evening bus back Saturday night. The ski package sounds like a better alternative than the original plan. I'll give your guy a call tommorow morning.

[ippy]

so long as theres space on the bus i might see you there

woah, just worked out by your cryptic clues :p where you live! thats an epic hike just for some snow! Whats the plan then? Head to gwangju friday night, crash over night, then get the bus satuday AM? Good plan.

remember, bus stops outside the IBK bank which is across the road from the dept store right next to U-Square bus terminal. Basically when you arrive at U-Square, follow the book shop (its looooong) and youll come out at the dept store It leaves at 5.50am from there and rather fekking annoyingly 2 buses form different companies arrive at the exact same time. Its the blue one. Look for the phone number blasted on the side of it. Oh, and they didnt have me down for a reservation (even though my coteach had definitely made the reservation), but they still took me anyway You pay about an hour into the bus ride when he walks up collecting the fees. Also when you arrive at muju, he hops off the bus for ten minutes and goes and grabs your lift ticket. The bus leaves for home at 4.30 (though it actually left around 5, i guess they just really want everyone there good to go asap).

There, thats pretty much everything i reckons.

[rgreen8314]

yeah i'll have to rent and that will definitely bring the cost up but it will still be less than half what a day trip in colorado would cost me with rentals, so i'll be happy. i got a free lift ticket to Vail in february through a friend who worked at one of the hotels there and looked at the price on it... something close to $100. but it was Vail, which was an amazing place for a second day of snowboarding when you really get it figured out. heavy snow the night before ... it was downright pleasant to wipe out when i started taking some risks and going faster. and that place is unbelievably huge... at the end of the day i was completely wiped and took a green from the very top to the base... ended up being a four-mile ride. if you ever get to colorado, go to vail and check out the back bowls. completely awesome.

wish i could go up this weekend but i've got plans. right now i'm thinking of going the 9th, and if i like it a lot then maybe the 16th, as those are pretty much my last free weekends in korea. going to look into the gwangju package soon, hopefully they can discount the rentals a bit.

funny stuff about that run of death. hope y'all have good trips up there this weekend.

[ty7180]

I just wanted to let everybody know that I called the tour company that Ippy recomended. It was extremely easy to set up reservations. Mr. Kim was very nice and helpful. I don't speak any Korean, but he was still able to understand enough English to set up reservations, and explain the details of the trip. His phone number is: 011 - 621 - 4258

[ippy]

wont be able to make the 9th because i have that stupid orientation thing in seoul (thursday to monday, 8.30am to 9pm every fekking day and no days off or extra pay to compensate). Will try and get there on 16th though, (the week after off to seoul to visit friends and the week after that off to japan for a month of snowboarding ) so maybe see you then then. Also, just looking at the cams on muju site, looks like they have most of the runs up and running. The mozart cam looked by far the worst just last week, but the snow from yesterday must have been heavy enough to finally give it some proper covering. Hopefully the sun sods off and we get some snow tonight or its probably going to be crusty crap which no one likes

[rgreen8314]

a co-teacher just called the number ippy posted (573-6100). she said they run the gwangju -> muju bus seven days a week. and bus + lift + rental of everything (except goggles) would be 88,000 for snowboarding. (i think it's 85,000 for skiing.)

so i'm thinking i will go on monday and hopefully miss the crowds. i'll let y'all know how it goes!

[ty7180]

rgreen, I went with Ippy, who's a great guy by the way, this past weekend. If you do like he mentioned and stay on Harmony you will get in a lot more boarding time. Don't let either of the black runs put you off either. They aren't too bad, and are good fun. I probably wouldn't have tried them if somebody hadn't suggsted trying them out. I'll be up there Saturday, butI'm interested in how it is during the week. Please have fun and keep us posted. Ty

[rgreen8314]

thanks ty. yeah i plan to spend most of my time up in that part of the slopes. i'll surely keep y'all posted.

i (my coteacher) just called the tour company again to check what i'm getting for my money since i'm renting everthing. i'll post it here to complete the record.

for 66,000 you get the transportation and lift ticket

for 75,000 you get transportation, lift ticket, and a board with bindings (72,000 for skis instead of a board)

for 88,000 you get transportation, lift ticket, board w/ bindings, boots, helmet, jacket and pants. (85,000 for skiers)

bring your own goggles, gloves, and a face mask if you want it.

this is a solid deal. many thanks to ippy for passing along that phone number!

[rgreen8314]

went up to Muju yesterday and had a good time. the tour company was great, as described, and the prices were what they quoted on the phone. i think you can choose your package on the bus. rentals was easy. my lift ticket was good for board/boots and i got another ticket from the tour guy for pants and jacket. give it to the counter people with an ID, they keep the ID and you get it back when you turn in the stuff. the equipment was fine by my standards (i have no standards, though). tour company's web page: http://www.kwangjutour.co.kr/

first i did the bottom half of the silk road to get my legs back, that was good run on freshly made snow and no people. by the time i got the bottom there was a wait for chorus so i took it again then stayed in the top part the rest of the morning, randomly picking out different runs. the top silk road was fun, especially the turns at the end. i did the blacks at the top and did alright. not much to dig into there though! conditions were about what i expected: pretty poor compared to what i've experienced before. around lunch time there were large patches of sheer ice in the middle of the silk road (top half) and i had a really crappy run dealing with that. man it hurts! but i learned to deal with it on that run and never had too many major problems with it, just learned to spot it coming and avoid it (or at least not try to turn on it!). on all the popular runs i'd say some good advice is to stick to the sides where there is more snow and fewer people. never went over to the other base, didn't look there was much worth doing there and was having a nice time as it was.

i thought it was pretty damn crowded, but i talked to this gal during lunch who said she usually goes on weekends and this was way less crowded. i got stuck in a 20 min queue for chorus after lunch which sucked but only had to do it once. the bottom half of silk road was pretty full but nothing crazy... looking up at that green next to it i couldn't believe my eyes. not sure how you could even run that. same gal also told me that there was way more snow that day than when she'd been in the past... i had to pick my jaw up off the ground after hearing that... this was after my icy run and i was little bitter about slope conditions.

the koreans definitely do it a little differently but everyone was pretty polite. carrying the board on the lift was a new one for me. they do have the tendency to sit on the runs in sometimes less than ideal spots but i think every other person out there is a beginner so they're probably just tired from falling on that nasty ice. wouldn't have minded more signage on the runs. lifts are kinda slow.

but overall i had a fun full day of riding. don't think i'll go back though. maybe if i was here longer, but my contract is up in about a month and most of that time i'll be in cambodia. think i'll save my money for a trip out to the colorado rockies in march.

thanks for all the info in this thread for making the trip happen!

[ippy]

anyone been up there in the last couple of weeks? how was it? thinking of maybe heading there this saturday or next, but its probably not worth the trouble... but want one more day at least

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Any updates for the new season from anyone on prices, or places to catch the bus, or even snow conditions on Muju?

I'm also interested in the time it takes on the bus to get to other skifields around the country. Have you ever taken a bus to another field from Gwangju? How long did it take? How does it compare to Gwangju?