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Hitting Muju for the weekend
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rgreen8314



Joined: 20 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for posting about your weekend, ty. lots of good information in there, especially regarding the bus.

how much was your lift ticket for the day? did you end up getting any discounts?

sounds like you took your own gear... get any sense of what the rental process would be like?

i think i'll be pulling a sick day from deskwarming this january and heading up there on a weekday... sounds pretty decent.
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ty7180



Joined: 02 Nov 2009

PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 10:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Ippy, Yeah it is probably a good idea to wait a little bit to use your board. I googled sierrascope and now I want a new board! The town of Muju seems really small, but to be honest I didn't explore the town that much. I would think you would be able to find a guest house or something. rgreen, I think I paid 65,000 for the 6:30-midnight ticket, and 50,000 for the 12:30-4:30 ticket. It looked like maybe 2/3 of the people rented gear from the shop. They have a big rental area with locker rooms and everything you need available. As for rates, I don't know. I am now dreaming about snowboarding and can't wait to go again! Very Happy

No, unfortunately I didn't get any discounts. If I would have known in advance what to bring I would have. They didn't give any discounts for being extremely good looking! Laughing
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ippy



Joined: 25 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jesus thats expensive! a day pass at niseko (possibly the most expensive mountain in japan), from 9am to 9pm runs you at just over 5000 yen. FOUR HOURS for 50,000 won? On fake snow? What the hell? Shocked

Ps, what board are you on right now ty?
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mtmelton



Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Chillin' in Gwangju

PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 4:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can get a 20 or 25% discount on the tickets if you have korean bank card. I got the same pass for 39 with my KB card. They told me a KEB would get a discount as well. Did you buy at the ski shop or at the mountain? Either way there are lots of cards running around they entitle you to discounts if you ask.
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ty7180



Joined: 02 Nov 2009

PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 4:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I though it seemed expensive, but since it was my first time I didn't have anything to compare it against. I'm using a Head True 154. Once I go a few more times, I'll probably get a longer, better board. Thanks for the advice on the bank card discount. Next time I'll definately take advantage of that. Ty
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ippy



Joined: 25 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i wouldnt be in a rush to grab a new snowboard quite yet. You really wont need it. Whats your weight and height if you dont mind me asking. Its just so i can make sure youre on the right size.

I assume youre probably around average weight and height (70-80kg, and probably 5.10ish just because thats er, average and you probably wouldnt be on a 154 if you were any heavier than that).

If youre in the low end of the 70s theres nothing wrong with a 154 at all. If youre at the higher end, youll probably find it struggles a bit at speed, but what you lose in carving youll make up for in freestyle and park by the end of the year, so dont sweat it too much. at the end of the day its pretty unlikely youll be riding the board to its limits even by the end of next season, so its still got plenty of life left in it for you and will probably do everything you want to do with it.

I dont even know what my first deck was, i bought it at a second hand shop becaus eit was kinda bendy and i was told thats what i was supposed to look for in a board Smile

I think it was around a 160. Rode it all my first season and loved it. My second board was an all mountain freeride board from 2005 (bought last year). It was tough to ride park, but man, it could fly. Definitely too technical for me to even be on it, but learned a lot from it. I guarantee i never took that board even beyond 40% what it could do if pushed. And by all rights, i shouldnt have touched that artec for another 3 or 4 years, but i decided i wanted to learn to freeride and hit pow, so went in that direction. Smile

This year ive gone a bit flexier mainly so i can cover the stuff i should have been learning last year but was on far too much of an unforgiving board to do. (Plus i was way too fat! was around 82kgs by the end of the season. A 157 freeride was pushing it if i really wanted to effortlessly glide through the pow) Smile

what im trying to say (before i got all distracted by the chance to talk all about me) is that you dont need to sweat the board so much, especially in your first season. My best mate learned on what can only be described as a plank of wood with a picture of mutley on it. The first day she ever rode it, we went into a shop to get the bindings switched, and the guy told her she should throw it out because its around 15 years old and a piece of shit. I kid you not, it was literally a plank of wood. She spent the season on it and was absolutely fine.

Assuming youre roughly the right size for it and its not too soft for you (it sounds like its a medium-stiff flex just from the product description), theres absolutely no reason at all that the board wont get you through a couple of seasons.

You seem to be enjoying the ride so far, just make sure your boots are comfy and youll wreck it on anything Smile
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ty7180



Joined: 02 Nov 2009

PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm 5'11" and around 83kg but my weight fluctuates anywhere between 80-90kgs depending on if I'm trying to put on weight or cut down. When I bought my board It didn't seem like they offered many over 154, but now I am starting to see many larger sizes. My contract ends at the end of May, so I guess a lot depends on if I stay in Korea another year, or if I try Japan out. I keep buying so much crap here, I have no idea what I'm going to do if I move Shocked I'm going to Seoul for Christmas seeing as I only get 1 extra day off and I was thinking of tying out a place nearby. I think we are probably going to hit Muju again some weekend after New Years, but I'll let you know to see if you want to meet up. Ty

P.S. My wife thanks you for telling me I don't need a new board. Next time help a brother out, and explain how the more expensive the board is the better and safer it is! Laughing Cheers!
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ippy



Joined: 25 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

haha, sorry about that, but you may need a proper size board in truth. You should really be riding something between 157-160 (and id strongly suggest a 160 in truth). Youll not feel the problems for the majority of your first season (assuming you get somewhere in the region of 8 to 10 days riding). But once you start carving, youll definitely feel some instability which is going to hinder your progress a bit. So in the spirit of compromise, id switch up next year to a more stable board that wont wash under you when you start dealing with speed.

Of course you dont NEED it, need it. After your first few washes youll realise how far you can push the board and not cross that line, but snowboarding is all about the ride at the end of the day, and its kinda pants when you cant really play in anything over a few inches of powder without having to seriously kill your thighs. No no, next season you MUST buy a new board! It must be a medium flex rocker and it must cost something in the region of 250-350 dollars - maybe you can grab the gnu carbon credit nice and cheap at the end of year sales Smile
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ty7180



Joined: 02 Nov 2009

PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the advice on the board. Being the holiday season and all, I'm all about compromise. This weekend might end up being a nice time at Muju. I live about half a mile from the beach on the south coast (Samcheonpo) and it is snowing outside right now. I'm from South Texas where snow is a pretty rare sight. Right now it's hard to tell who is more excited, me or the students! rgreen, I read online that you can rent everything except goggles and gloves. I can't verify if this is 100% correct, but you might want to check so you don't end up having to pay double the cost at the resort.
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ippy



Joined: 25 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

right, trying to psych myself for this weekend. Still dont know about how to get from gwangju to muju, but im determined by the end of today ill have cracked this apparently super super secret!
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rgreen8314



Joined: 20 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

from the u-square website:

광주-남원-장수-장계-무주

fare: 14,400

*6:10 (직)8:15 (직)9:15 (직)11:10 *11:50 (직)14:15 (직)15:50 *16:50 (직)=남원직통

* = 담양-순창-남원-장수-장계-안성-무주

직 = 남원-장수-장계-안성-무주 운행요금변

hope that helps. let us know how everything goes.
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ippy



Joined: 25 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cheers for that info! that will definitely come in handy next time!

This time though i harassed my students to find info while they were supposed to be cleaning Smile They found a package with a ticket and bus fare for 66,000 wons. Not too shabby considering the lift ticket alone is threatening to be 70,000!

Only catch is it leaves at 5.50am across the road (outside the IBK bank) from the big dept store next to U-square Smile

If you live in gwangju you may want to give these guys a call - the number is (gwangju) 573-6100.

You return at 4.45 from the same place they dropped you off.
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ippy



Joined: 25 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was literally one more bad run away from spending my afternoon sitting in the cafe in a huff.

Heres my day at muju Smile

Arrow Woke up at 5.20am, then got on the bus. The bus took TWO HOURS to muju. Arrived at 8am!
Arrow Got ready, and hunted for wax. Found the one and only shop selling snowboard gears (beanies, helmets, jackets, goggles - tiny shop), but no wax? This is supposedly koreas biggest ski resort, and it doesnt sell wax?
Arrow Went to get in the gondola. Had a look around and thought, "hang on, why does no one have skis or a board?" Was told that the gondola was only for people on foot".
Arrow Decided id try the mansun base and see if i could get wax there. Nothing.
Arrow Sat in a queue for 15 minutes. Finally got the pleasure of riding the worlds slowest lift. Then after 30 minutes got a 3 minute run. Good run, but so not worth the time it took to ride it.
Arrow got on another terrible lift. Was starting to get quite irked. Again, the run was under 3 minutes. So had a look at the map, decided id get on the nice long one. Only for reasons that still confuse me, it was skiers only! This is the only lift beyond half way up mansun (and so longer than 3 minute rides) and its restricted to skiers. To say i was pissed doesnt quite capture it.
Arrow Went up on the slightly longer lift this time (cruiser). Again, nothing to write home about. Aside one nice steep, it was about as interesting as yeti (i learned to ride there, its on fuji and its crap). At this point was spending more time in queues and riding lifts so was starting to get seriously fed up, so figured id have lunch.
Arrow Pizza!!!
Arrow Crossed back to seolcheon and couldnt believe my eyes. Ive never seen so many people outside of a concert. Tried teh gondola, was told my pass wasnt good for teh gondola so i had to use the lift. At this point i was seriously fed up with muju.
Arrow Went to the chorus (i think?) lift. Again, 20 minute queue, not helped by of course their two tier system. At this point i thought f*** muju. Ill do this run and thats it, after this, it can take a f***ing hike.
Arrow Got to the top and saw there was another lift (Harmony). Figured id run it as high as it went... And then it all changed.

Arrow Went to the top, was stunned by the view, and had a bit of a wander around. It is quite the breathtaking panorama. Once id had my fill of the view decided id ride the silk road. Could see it from the lift coming up and it seemed nice. On the way there saw crowds literally watching people ride minuet. Being the attention *beep* i am i had to ride it. 55 degrees, and awesome to charge. At the foot of it you can jump onto the silk road, or you can take the next line down. Obviously chose the steep (was sick of baby runs from mansun). again, but more choppy than minuet, but definitely a fun ride. Got some serious speed and best of all NO ONE IN SIGHT!!!
No one touched those runs, so spent the rest of teh day riding them, with the occasional treck down the silk road for a bit of a gentler ride (has some great turns by the way). Never went past the harmony lift.

If you go, my advice is stay up there. No lift queues, nice fast lift, fun tracks, and no one riding it. Cant wait till they open the rest of it. Looks like cadenza (?) is going to be open within a few days, with polka open by the end of the week. Theyve got the machines all up there, so it can only get better in truth.

The bottom half is utter hell though. If you have to, id avoid seolcheon and ride mansun, theres two lifts (cruiser and yacht) that dont seem so bad for a beginner, plus they arent as hellish as the other one (liner).

The queue for liner and chorus are probably the worst. I wouldnt ride chorus for any other reason than getting the hell to the top. Yamaga was fun, but way too short to justify the ridiculous queue time. Aside that, banned from the gondola and muju express, and melody was closed, so pretty much just echo left, and definitely wouldnt have found that interesting. Basically, muju, nice for a day, but even if they had all the slopes open, i cant imagine id enjoy it longer than that. All the good runs are in one place, and pretty much connect up, so itll definitely feel repetitive. Might hit it once or twice a month, but i think for the most part ill just wait for japan.

Saying that though, ill probably pop up there again next saturday to see if the other runs are up and play on them before i have to do that stupid epik conference 7th to 11th.

There, thats muju. Dont hit it on a weekend, especially on a busy weekend if yorue a beginner. If youre decent enough to ride the slopes up top, then go whenever you like, no ones there. Up top kinda reminds me a bit of hakuba47 from the top to lift c (?). About a ten minute ride through some decent and challenging red runs, but nothing thatll blow your socks off. Definitely two halfs to this place, so stay in the good half!

PS. The sierrascope rides like a fekking dream! Smile
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ippy



Joined: 25 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually, heres a proper review:

http://www.sierrasnowboard.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=31696&PN=0&PID=615189#615189
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ty7180



Joined: 02 Nov 2009

PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Ippy, I'm glad your trip turned into a good experience. I have to be honest though, I was laughing at your tales of misfortune a little bit Laughing I would try to get my students to help me out, but on a good day I'm lucky if they can string three words together!! I was going to go next week, but I called for reservations, and all the rooms were booked. They are supposed to have over a thousand rooms, so I can just imagine what the slopes will be like. We were going to try Bears town this weekend. We took all of our gear through the subway to our room just to be told they cancelled the shuttle bus for the day! There was a lot of Snow today in Seoul, and I wanted to go snowboarding so bad that I almost decided to try it out on a street with a little hill. I should probably thank my better half for talking me out of it. I'll be going for sure the weekend after next, and I'll take your advice on the slopes. Do you think the good run you were talking about will be ok for me to go on, or should I stick to less challenging runs. Who would have thought, this thread is actually turning out to be pretty informative Shocked Have a fun New Years!
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