Last week I went rock climbing at Insubong, a 600 foot crag near Seoul, with Chris Strode, my ex-boss. He was leaving for Washington State in a couple of days and had climbed this rock a few times before. We were headed for a crack system on the left side of the rock in this photo.
Chris led the 6-pitch route and placed all the protection. I had never climbed like this before, placing my own pro that is, and followed cleaning up the gear. Chris estimated it was 5.9 for the whole route. It was the best climbing I'd ever done and included crack, off width, and chimney sections. Here I am cranking a lay back in an off width.
It was one of those hazy days that are frequent this time of year and we couldn't see the city below us but could appreciate the valleys and neighboring peaks. I'm on belay at the bottom of this photo.
There's a balanced rock at the top and Chris is catching some shade and a rest after maybe 4 hours of climbing? If you look carefully, you can see hordes of Koreans on the neighboring peak, which has a stair system leading to it. Koreans love hiking and swarm the mountainsides on the weekends.