Snowboarding in Korea - Muju Ski Resort

This past week I had the privilege of going snowboarding in Korea. I had been talking with a friend over lunch about going sometime if he had the desire. That afternoon he called to inform me that he had just gotten a day off and we could go.

Muju is the closest ski hill to Geoje(I think) but it is still a good 2.5 hours by car. We were off by 5:30am in order to be in line when the ticket window opened. We had made ticket and equipment arrangements the day before but when we called to confirm they didn't seem to understand what we were asking for. Thankfully they offered up the same deal at the window; 50,000 won for the lift ticket and 25,000 won for the rental.

Driving up we wondered if there would be any snow and it would be too cold but as we got closer we saw that there was in fact enough snow to make it down the mountain. We were also blessed with clear skies, low wind and a temperature of -3 degrees Celsius for the majority of the day. Couldn't have asked for more, well we could have but...

From the top you can see that Muju is the tallest mountain in the area but it did not feel very tall. The map says that the mountain is 1614 meters tall and while you do start at the peak, you do not go all the way to sea level. Regardless of how tall the mountain actually is, the time you spend on the lift is more than the time you will spend going down. Unless you are learning, then you will spend much more time on the ground than anywhere else.

The good weather and great company made for a day well spent. It is a solidly fun time and almost needs to be done if you even remotely like going down a snowy hill while standing up on wooden sticks.