Tag: mountains

This is a pretty horrible accident that has killed five Korean mountain climbers in Nepal:

At least nine climbers, including five Korean nationals, are reported to have been killed in a massive landslide at Mt. Gurja in western Nepal.

The Himalayan Times reported on Saturday that the organizer of the expedition team said that the climbers were buried after the landslide hit their base camp.

According to AFP, a Nepalese police spokesman confirmed that a South Korean expedition was among a group of eight people killed in a snowstorm. The spokesman did not confirm the number of South Koreans killed or the details of the landslide.

The victims include Mountaineer Kim Chang-ho, the first Korean to summit the fourteen peaks above eight-thousand meters without supplemental oxygen.

The climbers were awaiting fair weather when a heavy snowstorm triggered the landslide that buried their base camp.  [KBS World Radio]

Via a reader tip comes this news of how drinking is being banned in designated areas in South Korea’s mountain parks:

Laws banning drinking on mountain tops and in other designated natural areas start this month.

The National Assembly passed the revised anti-drinking laws on Tuesday that affect visitors to mountains and parks under national, city or provincial management, the environment ministry said Wednesday. The laws begin on Mar. 13.

They include fines of 50,000 won ($46) for a first offence and 100,000 won for subsequent violations for people caught drinking in the designated areas.

The ministry’s latest bid reflects its intention to lower accidents in the regions. From 2012 until 2017, 64 of over 1,300 accidents on mountains and in parks were due to alcohol intoxication. Ten accidents were fatal.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the ban includes smoking as well.  It seems like this is going to be incredibly difficult to enforce unless they plan to have police patrol every mountain.

A South Korean expedition, led by climber Ko Sang-don, pose after scaling the 6,190-meter-high summit of Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, on June 18, 2016. Sponsor Kolping Co. provided this photo. (Yonhap)

I don’t think there is any more danger for women on Korean mountains than there would be in the city.  That is why I don’t think these recent murders should cause people to avoid hiking in Korea:

When a 55-year-old female hiker was found dead this week on a mountain in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, police officers didn’t want to think she was murdered.

Just 10 days before and 7 kilometers (4 miles) away on a different mountain, a 60-year-old woman was stabbed to death by a man recently released from prison. Murders are hardly common at spots where people hike, a favorite Korean pastime.

But on Thursday, police acknowledged that the 55-year-old appears to have been choked to death. Autopsy results found bruises “all over her body.”

A sexual assault is also possible.

Police are now wondering whether lone female hikers have become new targets for brutal killings.

“When a murder case unfolds on a mountain, very rarely can you find a witness,” said Lee Yoon-ho, a police administration professor at Dongguk University in Jung District, central Seoul.

The police have no suspects in the alleged murder case on Mount Sapae (1,808 feet), where the 55-year-old was choked, which is one of the most popular hiking destinations in Gyeonggi.

A lot of women say they are less keen to go hiking alone.

On a recent visit to the scene of the crime on Mount Surak (2,100 feet), where the 60-year-old was stabbed, very few people were spotted. Even male hikers admitted they were feeling slightly anxious.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but the article calls for CCTV camera to be set up along popular hiking trails to protect hikers.  It seems a bit overboard to me to put up CCTV cameras all over the country to protect against crimes.  If people are so concerned for their safety than carry some pepper spray for personal protection.