This is Episode 7 of the iGuideKorea podcast. In this month’s episode, we interview Ahn, Chiyoung, one of South Korea's most prominent mountaineers. I met Chiyoung back in 2005 where we did our first Himalayan expedition together. Since then he climbed his way to the forefront of the scene with ascents of Everest  and impressive first ascents that led to 2 Piolet D’or Asia Awards (the Piolet D’Or Asia or the “Asian Golden Ice Axe Award” is given to the most outstanding mountaineering achievements of the year). Chiyoung won his first award in 2012 for the first ascent of Himjung, 7140m, at the time the tallest unclimbed mountain in the Himalayas. He recieved his second award by summiting Gasherbrum V, 7147 meters. There had been multiple failed attempts of Gasherbrum V since 1978 until Chiyoung’s successful ascent in 2014. the Aplinist Magainze calling it a “historic feat.” 

In this interview we learn a more about Chiyoung’s climbing background. We also hear about how he approaches a mountaineering project and his advice for people interested in becoming a mountaineer. Due to Chiyoung’s limited English, iGuideKorea’s assistant guide, Chanhyung, has done the voice over.

In this episode we talk to Chiyoung about:

• How he approaches a mountaineering project,
• His  advice for people interested in becoming a mountaineer,
• And his favourite climbing areas and some route recommendations.

Here are a few links to information we talked about in the interview:

• FreeWall Climbing Gym (Chiyoung's Climbing Gym) Facebook Page: (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freewall-Climbing-GYM/1182206965245308)
• Article on Chiyoung's Gasherbrum V Ascent: (https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/alpinism/gasherbrum-v-first-ascent-by-the-koreans-chi-young-ahn-and-nak-jong-seong.html)
• His favorite climbing areas and some routes: Insu-bong: Link from theCrag.com (https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/south-korea/insubong).
• Routes:
• Chouinard A (https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/south-korea/insubong/route/272137737)
• Crony
• Seoneun-san: Link from theCrag.com (https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/south-korea/area/859900089).
• Muchok-san: Link from theCrag.com (https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/south-korea/area/929728527).

See you out there!

Production of this podcast was done by BoomBoom:

https://www.boomboomaudiovideo.com

For Audio Recording / Mixing / Editing go to:

http://www.boomboomaudiovideo.com

This is Episode 6 of the iGuideKorea podcast. In this episode, we hear from Dong-il Ryu the author of Climb, the only English rock climbing guidebook for all of South Korea. Climbing since the eighties, Dong-il is a walking encyclopedia for rock climbing in the country, and he has experienced some amazing adventures that he shares with us in this episode. In addition to doing translation work for the early Reel Rock Films, he is the main contributor to thecrag.com, an online global rock climbing guide. An avid climber, Dong-il’s writings and Facebook invitations to go climbing has opened up Korean rock climbing to expats, tourists and really the world. It was a great pleasure interviewing him and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did:

This is episode 5 of the iGuideKorea podcast. In this month’s episode, we interview the CEO of More Korea and the YongPyong Mountain Bike Park, Woon-kwang Beck or simply Beck. Beck runs the only chairlift-access downhill mountain bike park in South Korea. Located at YongPyong Resort, one of the venues for the 2018 Winter Olympics, the mountain bike park had simple beginnings with only 2 major trails. Four years and lots of digging later, Beck has transformed the resort into an adventure destination. His efforts have attracted local and international attention including visits from the legendary Austrian biker, Marcus Stockl who established the world speed record at 167.6km/hr, and French slopestyle specialist Yannick Granieri. Yannick came to Yongpyong with Eurosport ahead of the 2018 Olympics and made a video at the mountain bike park (the link to the video is below). Beck is a super friendly and motivated biker who truly wants to see South Korea’s mountain biking reach its potential.