Night Hike

This last Saturday, Joey decided that he’d like to hike the Sangpanak trail at night and try to summit Mt. Halla by sunrise. While it would have been great to have boots for the snow, I couldn’t turn down the invitation and the Boy Scouts have made me quite the proponent of the buddy system. I managed to get a quick power nap in before I woke at 2:30 to join Joey for some Kim Bap. The lady at Kim Bap heaven (I swear she works 24 hours a day) laughed hysterically when Joey had finished explaining what we were up to. We hopped into a cap and arrived at the trailhead by 3:30. While the night air down in the city only called for a sweatshirt, snow still covered the Sangpanak. We didn’t waste anytime starting our hike and it only took about a half an hour of climbing before the air was cold enough that snow clung to the trees. While the moon and the stars were hidden behind the clouds, all of the snow provided us with the vision to hike a good chunk of the trail cowboy style (but we were certainly happy to have our headlamps). Hiking in the dark among the snow covered trees was unbelievable and I’m certain that I had a big, stupid grin on my face for the majority of the hike. We had been hiking for about an hour when, peering through the trees, we spotted a pair of giant, red eyes that shown through the dark. The track that allows for the delivery of ramyeon via forest tractor lay about ten meters from the trail. I suppose the red lights were part of the track system, but man were they creepy. In the interest of safety, we abandoned our plans to rush to the summit before the first appearance of the sun (it was cloudy anyway). At one point I mentioned to Joey that I wouldn’t mind repeating the hike every other weekend. Joey said he’d love to, adding that in the spring he’d like climb the trail without shoes.

We had just cleared the thick forest when the first signs of dawn spread through the sky. In the distance we could see the peak and it was time to take off the headlamps and put on the gloves. Without the trees the wind had picked up a bit and every step took us higher into the cold air. By the time we reached the summit my outfit was still keeping me warm with the exception of my two layers of gloves and three layers of wool socks. I’d like to see a time lapse video explaining the creation of some of the sculptural snow we saw. Jagged, wind-blown chunks of snow clung horizontally to every vertical object. Joey and I, who can put away food with the best of them, had now climbed for hours snacking only a bit here and there along the way. After taking in all the beauty around us, we sat preparing for our mountain top feast. As my feet began to freeze, the feeling in Joey’s hands began to fade and we had to abandon our dreams of eating until we could descend to warmer air and less wind.

We returned to the famous ramyeon stop and, though the trail had only been officially open for about two hours, the small building and the surrounding area was flooded with cheerful, Korean hikers. I bought a pair of crampons (for the next hike), a bowl of ramyeon, and a cup of coffee. Joey, whose glasses were thoroughly fogged headed outside just as a group of young men asked me to share a bottle of Makali (rice wine) with them. As my feet climbed back to their proper temperature, a sat in a familiar situation: not understanding a fraction of the words that were being said, but being completely happy - what an experience this had already been! Joey and I finished our ramyeon outside and had a celebratory bottle of Hallasan soju.

We continued down the mountain and had been descending for 15 minutes when a helicopter flew by towards the summit. We watched as it nearly touched down before it rose again and headed back down the mountain. What we initially thought to be a rescue chopper was now growing very near. It hovered above us and then it began to spin to one side as it slipped backward in the wind - for a moment it looked like it was about to crash right on top of us. Fortunately for all the helicopter was simply picking up trash from a nearby construction site. The wind from the blades sent snow flying through the air like a blizzard. The cold had frozen my batteries and as the helicopter flew away, my only regret from the hike became my inability to catch it on video.

We had hiked for five more minutes when we heard the blades again. I had been warming my batteries, so I quickly put one in my camera as we ran back to the construction site. As it turns out I’m not to handy with the video setting on my camera, but I think I got the proximity and the wind captured just fine.

The hike was a blast and as always Joey is a great person to adventure with. As we neared the end of the trail the snow had just melted and fall had returned to Hallasan (the leaves have been changing for months). I mentioned to Joey that I’d like to climb Everest before I die and that we make a good team. Joey, who never fails to take something to the next level, agreed adding that he’d like to do it without oxygen.