1st ski trip in two years, YongPyong South Korea

Well, it's about time I went skiing in South Korea, the first time in two years. The longest I've gone without skiing since I was 2.5 yrs. old. I guess you can say it was a great way to start 2010. A good friend Jean, was able to get a condo to stay at for 2 nights and 3 days. Jan.1~3.

So I ended up heading to Seoul at 2pm on Friday the 1st to meet Luca, then we drove to Jean's parents house in Chuncheon. After talking with her family for a while we loaded up in the AP van and started our journey to YongPyong. Smooth sailing, no traffic at all. we arrived early evening and all of us were excited to be at a ski resort. :)

we found a rental shop, actually one of the first ones off the highway heading to the resort, didn't think to shop around, i guess i was in la-la land all excited about the thought of skiing. anyway, i found a decent pair of skis, but crappy boots, oh well, the boots were kind of big, so at least they were warm. i ended up renting the shop owner's skis, he was nice enough and and some what honored to give me the skis after Jean talked my ski ability up. :) thanks Jean!

so we found our condo and it totally resembles the outside of a Beaver Creek condo, i kinda felt like I was in Beaver Creek for a moment. back teaching on the slopes near the Ritz. haha! so we settled in and then went to check the slopes. as we pulled up, luca and i looked at each other and said, let go skiing! granted it's 1030pm friday night and they sell twilight tickets and close at 230am. GREAT! so in short, we went back to our condo, suited up and headed back to the slopes, very short drive, maybe 3 min. Jean thought it was a crazy idea as we just finished a bottle of wine at the condo an hour earlier. but she was game!

taking the escalator in the lodge up to the slopes after buying our tickets. we even got 35% off tickets with my BC bank card....

ahh..night skiing, it's been a while, hope i remember, LOL! Luca looking down. Both Jean and Luca snowboard, i thought about it, but then skiing is where my heart is :)

and it's snowing, how much better can it get! 11pm making turns in S.Korea

so psyched to be on two planks again! ready to slide on the snow.

only 4 slopes or so were open late night....

which way to go?!?

well....i bought some cheap goggles and ski pants at E-mart and used my newly urban style coat....nice and toasty warm...

that's me under there, Inuit style ;)

-12 C at midnight !! yes...a bit cold, brrrhh!

hydrating with some sport drink, pocari sweat.

happy as can be!!! not a bad ski coat....hahaha!

the masked rider

we had to strike a pose with the jolly snowman

another hooded shot...

i think this maybe the only action shot (jean and luca ripping it up), however i did manage to get some POV video footage, a short video will soon be made....

parallel and the wedge...

another slope....the snow wasn't too bad for manmade

some korean treats in the lodge..

inside the main lodge, nice fireplace.

back at our condo setting up the POV goggle mount

luca brought some holiday treats from his recent trip to Italy... yummy!

simple, yet delish! Jean made some egg soft taco-burrito's for Saturday morning's breakfast

a view from our condo. always nice to wake up to snow

Luca

Jean

Jean and Chris added some window washer fluid for our venture to town...

a view from the garage at the Birchwood Condo

The AP van even comes with a siren/flashing light...just in case!

Luca jogging around the main town. we ended up driving out to the town because i was going to switch ski boots and Jean's friend Chris showed up late night and needed to rent a board. we figured the good equipment is not at the resort but in the town. a lot of saturday ski traffic, a waste of time, but chris managed to get a nice board and i evidently had the top of the line ski boots from the shop, well not to my standards....oh well, i'll make due.

well we were on our way to ski, but it was around lunch time and we were a bit hungry. ended up finding a great Korean Hanu (Korean high grade beef) BBQ place. very good as you can see are smiles of anticipation above!

beef and wine, perfect match ;)

we decided to open a bottle, why not..it's a ski trip and a very delicious lunch!

Oh Yeah!

had to get some cheesy shots with the meat!

we are getting ready to feast (Jan. 2, 2010)

how does that look?

looking over at the meat market inside the restaurant, you pick your cut of beef, pay for it, then cook it. incredible!

Korean cows grazing..... Cheers to Hanu!

shoveling in Korea slippers....

some singaporean girls luca and i met as we were waiting for Jean and Chris....

and sweeping the snow...

the bus, renting sleds too! Singaporean's on a ski trip....

the one in the orange fleece on the right was beautiful.... ;)

Well...we made it back to the slopes, to find out that we couldn't by lift tickets, cause the lifts were about to close for a few hours before night skiing.... :( oh well....i guess were night skiing again! Jean above riding down to the lift ticket area from where we parked. quite a few beginners behind here....

they even have air blowers to blow the snow off your equipment....

as jean and chris drove back to the condo, luca and i walked around and then walked back.

the BirchWood condo's....very much like what you would see in Beaver Creek...

Hello Kitty....

luca ended up breaking or having problems with his boots so here I am giving a ride down to the base area, too funny! i could hear Koreans, saying look at that as we were heading down...

Jean masked up! yep, another cold night!

looks like a full moon above the lift...

Chris ready to go..

luca took this shot....candid indeed!

And this...checking out the different Korean styles...

taking a break, having some fish cake on a stick...not your average ski lodge snack...definitely a unique ski experience....

another outfit....

loading at the six pack...

top of a run....

full moon and the riders getting ready...

so we ended up skiing from 630pm to around midnight. good times on the slopes...quite a few people tonight on the slopes...definitely had to have your eyes open for the occasional out of control missile. i had a few close calls, but the speed and quick instinct worked in my advantage :)

so we ended up going back to the condo....enjoying wine and apps and going to sleep around 4am.

in the a.m., the moon still out, nice view from the condo...

the next day....bluebird day..getting ready to hit the slopes...

the italian....

very nice out...finally skiing during the day....day 3...2010 YAHOO!

snowboarders have an interesting way of riding the lift, boards off

BlueBird DAY!

Luca getting his rental board...

so...not sure if you know, but YongPyong was in the bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics. it missed out by only a few votes..i think something like Vancouver 56 to YongPyong 53. just imagine, in a few weeks the games will start in Canada.....

Jean taking a mirrored image..

well...i found out that my POV batteries were dead, i thought i had half a charge but nope. so here i am all sweaty on the gondola ride up to a new part of the mountain after running around trying to find AA's. i did manage, so got some good POV footage.., so it was worth the extra effort. :)

the AA's

at the top of the Gondola, my korean girlfriend was waiting for me......

giving her a kiss before my ski run....LOL!

as well as luca....LOL!

and jean found her man....LOL!

beautiful views from the top of the mountain...glad we got up here today!

buckling up!

a group shot, chris didn't make it out today, he ended up heading back to seoul and stuck in traffic for a while....

the top of the mountain lodge....heading in for some lunch!

korean food....bulgolgi, rice, and kimchi

and some Kimchi Jiggae....

yes, as always loving life...especially today. nice long runs on this part of the mountain...in the distance, you can see the bottom.

funny tool that luca spotted...jean checking out the trash can plunger/smasher, what ever you want to call it...

beautiful day!

somewhere over there is the East Sea....i think were within a 1/2 drive to the east coast...

more outfits...

i think we'll go to the left....double black diamonds...hahaha!

a group of kids...snowboarding team...they were shredders.

some more outfits..a lot of snowboarders in Korea...

back at the condo, at the end of the trip, almost time to say goodbye to YongPyong...

our last supper at the condo...thanks to jean's mom for packing us some tasty food!

so, that was it...the 1st ski trip in S.Korea....YAHOO! we all had a great time, hope to go again this year.

photo credits to Me, Jean, and Luca

See you again soon!