December 11th has been designated “International Mountain Day” by the United Nations ever since 2003 (just after the UN held various “International Year of the Mountains” activities in 2002). It is intended to commemorate and raise public awareness about the ecological, cultural, and emotional importance of mountains. This year’s UNIMD theme is Facing Change: Climate Change in Mountain Areas. For more infomation visit the UNIMD website here.
The Korean Mountaineering League and its allies will be hosting a celebration of UNIMD (the first ever in Korea that we know of) on the afternoon of this coming Sunday, December 9th. We will hold it in the Ui-dong neighborhood of Gangbuk-gu District, a famous trailhead-area in northeastern Seoul that offers great views of the dramatic peaks of both Samgak-san and Dobong-san of the Bukhan-san National Park (closest Metro Station is Suyu on the Light Blue Line). This event is open to the public, although seats at the venue are limited and if you would like to join us for this please send an e-mail to the KML to get invited. It’s free except for paying for your food; donations are welcome.
More detailed info about our events and participants in the first response…
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We will begin at one o’clock pm by meeting at the entrance gate (with the name-signboard, just above the hiker’s parking lot) of Doseon-sa (Seoul’s most important and historic Buddhist mountain-temple) above Ui-dong. I will give a free tour of this temple to the group, and then conduct a fairly traditional Mountain-spirit Respecting-Ceremony at their shrine, which everyone can either join in or just watch.
At 3pm we will then go down to the main venue, a mountain-hiking institute in Ui-dong, for a brief ceremony, some speeches and poetry and music, and a Korean meal. Speakers will be “some of the most active and vibrant figures of Korea’s mountain world”:
- Cho Young-chang: organizer for the Samgaksan Campaign, Gangbuk District Office, Seoul
- David A. Mason: Tourism professor of Kyunghee Univeristy; expert on Korean mountain-worship and sacred-mountain traditions
- Jake Preston: mountaineer; representative of Korea on the Rocks
- Rayn Roberts: poet of the Buddhist traditions of Korea’s mountains
- Roger Shepherd: trekker; chief field-researcher of the Baekdu Daegan Expedition Project
- Shin Min-kyoung: organizer of the Samgaksan Mountain Festival, Gangbuk District Office
- Shawn James Morrissey: President Korean Mountaineering League
Please join us for this pleasant afternoon if you love the mountains and feel inclined to do so…