Did i win?

[ippy 66]

Yes, the event is a mountain with snow on it!

 

Can i just point out the gigantic snow cannons spewing out fake snow and the complete lack of snow on the actual side of the slopes. I mention this to point out its not even peak season when these photos were taken. The week after was even more ridiculous. Fortunately i was in japan mid january to late feb so i hate to think what it was like then. In Muju's defence, it is literally the only mountain thats a 2-3 hour drive away from about every major city in korea outside of seoul. The only other real place to go is in the far north east corner of the country which is a pretty big shank for most people in korea. The place is crazy

[thursday 1]

It is beyond ridiculous. The lift queus are 45 minutes long.

 

The lifts STOP for lunch!!!!!! so that ALL the resort can cram into the food hall together at the same time.

[muikabochi 208]

funny

 

I must never complain about the conditions here ever again, even if they are rubbish.

[ippy 66]

actually youll be glad to know (on muju at least) the whole lifts stopping for lunch doesnt happen any more. BUt the lift queues are utterly insane at the bottom of the mountain. What makes it worse is that there are 3 lifts at the bottom of the mountain (4 if you include the gondola), so its not like its an early morning bottleneck.

 

ah to hell with it: heres my actual review of this place (the review looked less wall of text with some pics in there):

 

Quote:

Where: Muju Resort

Muju Resort Map

When: 26th December, SATURDAY, BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND.

Cost: Pretty pricey. 70,000 won for a day pass (8am to 4.30pm). Since ive spent all my time in japan, this is close to extorionate. Apparently though if you pay by a korean bank card you can get discounts knocking it down to the low 50s. Never done it myself, so dont know if its true. Anyway: Rates

Snow Conditions: No real snow hits muju. Its cold, but doesnt have much precipitation generally. Mostly man made with a smattering of real snow. Generally icy up top, with groomed soft wet artificial stuff down the bottom.

Resort Conditions: About 70% of the runs were open. Mainly the runs up top (polka, mozart, allegro and half of cadenza) were closed at the time. Id say theyre about a week away from being open though.

Other info: The one run in mansun base that goes to the top was skier only. Ridiculous. Also two tier lift system in operation. Normal and fast track. Pay for fast track and you have a 2 minute wait, pay for normal and chorus (seolcheon base)and liner (mansun base) lifts are a 20 minute queue. If you plan on riding these two a lot, buy a priority ticket.

Resort facilities: Koreas biggest resort has 1, get this, ONE shop for snow gear. It sells a few beanies, a couple of jackets, some goggles, and a few helmets. Its pretty small. No wax too which annoyed the crap out of me - gwangju has none so was hoping i could get some and a scraper here. Not a chance.

Has plenty of restaurants (dolmios, popeyes, lotteria, and plenty of korean typical ski resort fodder) though, so you wont go hungry .

 

Review: Started off pretty poor. Tried to ride the gondola only to realise no one was carrying skis or a board. Apparently the early morning (9am) gondolas are for foot passengers only. Decided id avoid the queues and go to mansun base. Spent most of the morning there and genuinely disliked it. There were a couple of nice steeps to play on, but the lift queues to ride them were atrocious (and the lifts themselves were ridiculously slow): 25-30 minutes spent in a queue and on a lift for a three or four minute run just wasnt worth it. So switched to the other lifts.

 

First one was skier only for no explicable reason. It didnt help matters that it was the only lift that took you to the black runs. The other lifts werent that bad, rode them, but the terrain was simple beginner stuff, nice wide and flat and as mentioned, the lifts were VERY slow. BY this point i was desperate for a decent ride, so went and grabbed lunch then switched back to seolcheon base.

 

I couldnt beleive what i was seeing. So MANY people. Id seen it on their webcam, but seeing it in real life was something else. Went to ride the gondola (saw people with boards and skis so figure it was open). Apparently my odiously expensive ticket didnt cover it so went to the chorus lift instead.

 

Like the liner over at mansun, this lift queue was hellish. Definitely 20 minutes plus. Decided id had enough at this point. One more run and then i was sitting in the cafe in a huff while i waited for my bus home. Eventually got to the top of the lift and noticed there was a connecting lift right next to it so figured id at least have a decentish last run on the silk road.

 

Then a strange thing happened. Suddenly i was faced with wide open runs with NO PEOPLE. Also, they were pretty steep. Finally! some decent runs.

 

Got to the top and was met with surprise number two. The view was breathtaking. It seems like there was probably an old temple or wayhouse thats been converted into a restaurant, i mean sacrilege and all that but its a nice touch and after a day of frustration it definitely helped lighten my mood. Suddenly the whole 'people on foot' thing made a bit more sense. Theres a trail for people to hike up to, and plenty of families were doing it. It certainly gave muju something unique that ive seen nowhere else. (PS. ETA: Ive now seen this at Zao, no need to fact check me fact fans!)

 

Anyways, went back on the trail, and spent the afternoon enjoying the open runs. Definitely some decent quality red runs. Nothing particularly special though. Its a good five or so minute ride with a few decent steeps. What's nice though, is that here you have the entire run to yourself. Amazingly, no one comes up to the top, which was a complete relief.

 

If nothing else, you could do some serious charging And so long as you stayed on the harmony lift, you could literally hop straight back on the lift and do it again.

The top of the silk run was also nice for a bit of variation. Its like a nice wide path, with some good twists and turns. Definitely fun to just ride some ground tricks. A bit busier than the steeper runs at the top, but nowhere near as bad as the lower half of the mountain.

 

After a few hours, decided i was getting tired and the light was getting a little tough to see the terrain so i headed back down. As soon as i crossed the harmony lift line i was met with a wall of people. It was utter bedlam. Ski patrol were everywhere just trying to keep some kind of order. Arriving at the base i couldnt help but laugh. It was nuts. If id have stayed there for even one more run, guaranteed i would have gone home.

 

Overall, the best advice is this: if you come to muju get on the chorus lift EARLY. Then ride that bad boy to harmony. Stay above the harmony line and youll have an alright day. Nothing special, but its decent quality.

 

If i was honest id say its half a day of fun in truth. Since all the lines seem to intersect it will get a bit repetitive after a while. But if youre with some people you can probably find some stuff to do to keep you entertained. They'll also probably have the park up in a while, but from what i saw (a couple of rails and a small kicker), i wouldnt be too hopeful. Theres a halfpipe marked on the trail map, but saw no sign of it so its probably a long way off

 

SOME PICS!!! (sans the two ive already posted)

 

Up top - note the lack of people and compare with the bottom half (the pics earlier in the thread). There are three runs here, 1 is open, and two are shut, but still no people! wheee!

 

At the very top of muju youll find a cute shrine:

And a really nice vuiew:

And heres an MSPaint trail map of all the danger zones

 

...

Anyway, hope this helps give you a sense of the place. Its by no means as amateurish as i thought it might be, and the lifts dont in fact close en masse at 12 for lunch. The fake snow is actually kinda nice if a little sticky, and beats the crap out of ice. Its surprisingly alright once you get out of the crowds, in fact since you have the runs to yourself, its pretty awesome for a while.

 

The bottom half is trash though, as is mansun base, but the top half of seolcheon is definitely at least good solid quality if you happen to be in the area. Its up there with most of the red stuff ive played on in japan. Its a pity its technically so small once you rule out the bottom half and mansun, but itll do for a day trip

 

...

 

[updated later in the year]

Top of the mountain at the end of the season:

 

...

 

 

Over the year through various trips i eventually got to ride all of the runs. Theres some definite heavy duty terrain, like serious gnarly steeps. the only trouble is no matter how awesome the steep is (and theres some damn nice steeps - 60 degrees on one of them), its all a bit short really youre talking about a two or three minute run, and well, thats not really going to keep someone stoked for too long.

 

At the end of the season they also let snowboarders on that black slope up top of mansun. Its sorta steep, kinda maybe could qualify as a red run i guess, theres narrow bits for sure, its twisty and turny in parts, and yeah, some nice bursts of steep. But apparently its 'too dangerous' for snowboarders in normal season. I guess by that they mean snowboarder are a danger to themselves

 

What else? Hmmm, it beats not riding, it beats indoor, but its still kinda lame It didnt redeem itself at any point throughout the season and i can only imagine it got worse during teh school holidays for people while i was busy mucking around in niseko powder. Those crowds are still hysterically funny

 

I think this year muju will be somewhere i go when i cant be assed going to high1. But its looking likely that high1 is top of the list. Cant wait to blast that place in a review as well

[Mick Rich 78]

I managed to check out 9 Korean resorts over the winter of 2008/9 (my favourites were Yongpyong and Bears Town) and would agree with Ippy that they can't compete with Japanese resorts on any level save for price, so best leave your ski/board bag at home! I was living there at the time so had no other choice

 

Playing tourist is a different matter though Pete - great food, good shopping and a weak Won, but if you're coming from China I'm not sure if it'll feel as cheap as it does with Yen in your wallet!

[panhead_pete 27]

Thanks Mick - gone to Plan B, this just clarifies the decision.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

he's heading for the Austrian/German Alps.....lucky bugger

[Jynxx 4]

You can come too, TB.

Cheap tickets around for 600 euros return Japan. If I were living in Japan, I´d consider that over Hokkaido. Would end up cheaper if you are staying for 2 weeks. Like I said many times in my past posts.

[ippy 66]

a wise choice mate. Seoul is fun and all, but its not really all that exciting, well, not for a week. Still, the snowboard street is pretty awesome

[panhead_pete 27]

Thanks Ippy will get to Seoul next year I reckon, maybe not to board but at least for a look.

 

Thanks TB - pretty stoked. In 41 hours Im in a car heading for the 1st of 4 airports between now and 2:15pm Monday. Not that Im counting

[Mick Rich 78]

This is turning into a multi-subject post but what the hell, it's all good

 

Ippy, where's the snowboard street in Seoul? I used to go to the basement floor of a department store near Dongdaemun Gate, where there were a dozen or so independent outlets, though I'm not sure they're there now

 

Austrian Alps trumps Seoul every time - have a great time Pete! I'll console myself with a beer and today's purchase - a one-way ticket to Asahikawa, Hokkaido at the beginning of January

[ippy 66]

Its near hakdong station in seoul. At the station youll see a poster for ronin snowboard shop telling you which exit to leave at (i forget myself). Anyway, youll pop out in a non descript street with absolutely nothing snowboardy and probably thinking "ipps is a lying jerk", but just walk up that hill and youll see ronin.

 

Then once youre done in there, carry on walking up the hill. And just as you hit the crest, the snowboard shops are everywhere. Theres about 30-40 of them.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

too late now Ipp, he lives in Yokohama

[Mick Rich 78]

Cheers Ippy - I'll check it out when I'm next over, getting my fix of dwaejigalbi and dakgalbi. I love it here in Japan but miss decent Korean food plus the large portions

[panhead_pete 27]

Mmmmmm Korean BBQ. Love it.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Is Korean BBQ better than its Japanese impression Yaki Niku?

[brit-gob 9]

A good yakiniku is hard to beat hey.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I love it. Actually there is a korean place near where I live that bills itself as REAL Korean BBQ, always meant to go and give it a whirl.....

[panhead_pete 27]

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver

Is Korean BBQ better than its Japanese impression Yaki Niku?

It depends. Here (50km from North Korea) there are a few different styles. Some are like small kebabs where the food is on metal kebabs, others its cooked for you and bought to your table but my fav though is when they bring a bucket of hot coals to the table and you cook your own food which is normally thin sliced meat with lots of fat which you wrap in a lettuce like stuff and eat after dipping in this great sauce some vegies washed down with a beer or 3. My team love it and I always enjoy treating them.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Originally Posted By: panhead_pete

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver

Is Korean BBQ better than its Japanese impression Yaki Niku?

It depends. Here (50km from North Korea) there are a few different styles. Some are like small kebabs where the food is on metal kebabs, others its cooked for you and bought to your table but my fav though is when they bring a bucket of hot coals to the table and you cook your own food which is normally thin sliced meat with lots of fat which you wrap in a lettuce like stuff and eat after dipping in this great sauce some vegies washed down with a beer or 3. My team love it and I always enjoy treating them.

yeah thats what Yaki Niku over here, I love it. But I've heard that Yaki Niku in Korea is awesome and I'd love to see what the diff is

[panhead_pete 27]

Possibly the dog? I know here there are specific places for it. Locals tell me its more a Korean thing?

[ippy 66]

i <3 galbi. Though 2 weeks ago in seoul i had the worst bbq since my arrival in korea... and that includes the night i ended up in a mom and pop galbi place and they gave us pig knee (grim) and cut up pig intestines with a delicious lump of fat inside it. Im honestly grimacing as im typing this

 

The intestine is like rubber, so when you bite, you squash the two ends together shooting the now semi liquid fat into your mouth like a little lard rocket. Its as bad as it sounds (unless you really like eating lumps of semi cooked fat).

 

 

 

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Ippy.....your Scottish!! surely you enjoy consuming a lard rocket!!

[ippy 66]

yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk /vomit

[pie-eater 207]