KOREAN Climbing Culture 🇰🇷 EXPLAINED ! 

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Additionally, slabs and overhangs are kind of rare in Korea compares to other countries. The majority of walls are 5 - 30 degress, which is very suittibale for mordern setting style. And there are some "Beginner friendly" gyms, such as Boulder Friends in Hongdae. If you can climb V4-5 on a MOON and not afraid of parkour style, you can basically climb 90% of the boulders there.

I went to seoul forest climbing, and definitely noticed that there was more thought and creativity on the beginner routes. The v-0-v2s weren't just glorified ladders, they were pretty fun and had lots of opportunity to try out technique.

I got to climb in Korean gyms recently and it was pretty humbling as someone who usually climbs in a pretty oldschool gym. But even lower grade climbs felt immensely fun and rewarding because of the huge variety of holds and movements at all levels. I think western gyms could learn a lot from Korea in how to cater more to beginner climbers and get them hooked and having fun!

Another very peculiar thing I noticed as a tourist was that often when I'd top a somewhat harder boulder I'd hear groups locals say 'nice' and then completely avoid eye contact when I'd jump off haha. That being said, lovely climbing culture with very high quality gyms

I’m French and started climbing in Korea about a year and a half ago. Now that I’m back in France, I find that using a tripod feels quite awkward, even though I used it every day in Korea. In Seoul, there is a chain called "The Climb Gym" (like the one in Ilsan featured in the video), which is extremely popular. I believe it’s the most popular because there are around 12 or 13 of these gyms just in Seoul. This abundance of climbing gyms means that many Koreans don’t focus much on working on a single project. They have access to so many different gyms and problems that they tend to try something new each session. Not having a "home gym" makes the sport much more fun and exciting for me. I miss that variety now that I'm back in France.

Bouldering got popularity quite recently in Korea. Younger people started to take care of themselves after the covid lockdown, many picked up sports especially like golf or tennis, and around that time parkour style dynos went viral on instagram. Since Seoul is a city with very high population density and there are certain places in the city people usually hang out, a lot of gyms were opened in those areas. Even though there are so many climbing gyms in Seoul, almost every places are packed with people when you visit them in weekends. Also, if you visited small cities like Gangneung of Sokcho you can find gyms that set harder problems, putting less foot holds. Glad to see you visited Korea though 👍

It’s cool to see all the different setting styles around the world

Another location to add to the list 🎉

Cool video! As a korean climber, I do agree that Instagram definitely has a major effect on increasing the climbing population👍 Anyways, it is interesting to hear the opinions of climber outside of korea! Hope you come visit korea again😆

So happy to see the running from the mat across the volumes. I do this all the time and people look at me weird 😂

Good introduction of KR climbing culture! I would add that such gyms are quite a new as they sprung over past 5-6 years, hell actually new gyms in Seoul open every 1-2 months these days. Oldschool gyms are small, cramped and just one big spray wall, where people do endurance laps to train for outdoor lead climbing. But they are going out of business quite fast as there are too much commercial gyms. And as someone mentioned, really no crimps, I usually trained moonboard, beastmaker or just spraywall that had some crimps for getting stronger for outdoors.

Jonny made a good video but only looked at 1 narrow aspect which was the routesetting style.. IMO there are 4 main things gyms do there differently compared to other gyms in the world ive been to 1. Their introductory beginner course is well done. They caringly show and share bouldering safety, etiquette and genuinely share the joy of climbing with new beginners. I saw this at every gym i went The Climb, Plastik, Peakers. 2. They spend a shit tonne of money on the aesthetics, cleanliness and facilities. Each one of The CLimb's branches look like a fancy pilates studio. Theres heated showers, foot wash, free charging stations, free bandages and so on 3. Routesetting. Jonny mentioned their style but to make climbing popular to the mainstream they did 3 things in terms of routesetting that differ to other gyms around Asia (and the rest of the world) - hardly any crimps, almost none. With vanity being a big part of Korean culture, girls there can actually keep their nails somewhat long. - as a result, most grips were juggy, slopey, pinchy and alot of open handed styles. This really saves tendons and ligaments especially for beginners - Theres actually alot of nurturing classic climbing if you look around carefully, the ones you see on social media are mostly dynos cause the algorithm feeds you those but therse alot of balancy, complex, tricky sequence climbing too - The movement always feels comfortable and the box is never squashed. Theres no awkward feelings or sour moves in The Climb - Accessible setting. As Jonny mentioned they are generous with feet, they use lots of volumes so that climbers at different heights can choose where they want to place their feet. This kind of inclusivity in their routesetting transfers onto their climbers in a subtle non-spoken way to signal to them that "hey we are thinking of you" kind of vibe. 4. Culture. They dont chase grades like how some other gyms do. If you look closely, you will notice climbers in Korea dont post 1 hard send they did but they share a collage of boulders they tried in 1 session in a carousel in instagram. They post their triuumphs and failures and their journey inbetween with some comment. They also post their breakfast or dinner after their session. They view climbing as part of their lifestyle, not a competitive sport to grade chase and tick off milestones for the sake of vanity. THey truly appreciate the climbing lifestyle hence their motto "The CLimb Life"

Climberland is very fun, glad it still exists

I'm one of the few foreign route-setters here in Korea, and it's quite interesting not just only seeing the more dynamic styles here, but also how climbers are able to cater more towards beginners. The only gym that still calls their colored tapes by V grades is The Climb, but even they are no-where near accurate in terms of their V grades. Grey level climb are tagged as V6~7 but can often be V9+. Most of the other gyms have chosen to follow a colored tape system specific to that gym which allows for beginner grades to have some diversity and allow a great level of creativity of movements. When route-setting and teacher first day experience classes, the difference between early grades could be that the first grade is a ladder and then the next grade requires beginner techniques like footswaps or pushing. It's great from a setter perspective because we can focus lower grade climbs to have something to learn from or a technique to practice every single time. That being said, having to set a new wall every week sometimes puts a drain on your creativity!

He's back!!!

When I went climbing in Seoul for the first time, the tripods were also the first thing I noticed. I also spoke to some people there and learned that especially the stronger climbers not only use the filming for social media but to actually review their movement as well which was pretty interesting to me. But all in all, as someone who has been climbing for a really long time and likes more traditional style moves, climbing in Seoul was partly very frustrating as most of the climbs are set to attract attention and resemble the attention-stealing comp boulders. But as others also mentioned, for beginners this is quite nice. Not only because the climbs in lower grades are more interesting and look better but also because it teaches beginners to watch out for technique and body placement right from the beginning. I noticed that beginners in Seoul climbing gyms often were much more aware of feet technique and body placement than in most gyms in Europe.

I agree that dynamic/coordi routes gets more social media attention, my only shorts getting 10k view is a coordi jump (it is not a difficult boulder problem, I would rate it like V4-ish) while all my other shorts gets average of 400 views.

I learned climbing in Seoul because I noticed how much Koreans were into it. So when I visited the states I noticed the difference in the gyms especially with CRIMPS. I felt like I had to relearn climbing just to stay on these problems in Cali. I do think Seoul needs more crimp setters.

I would love for you to try French climbing gyms sometimes! I think the setting style there is quite unique!

This makes me sad that i started climbing months after my trip to seoul😭 All their gyms look like the style of climbing that i love. At least this gives me another reason to go back😁 Great video👏 (Also i wish tripods were more common here in the uk... Even though my gym is too small to use them😂)

I think it's great that climbing has such a diversified culture that manifests in route setting and climbing styles. It means there are effectively lots of little laboratories experimenting with ways to push climbing (and climbers) forward, and there are many opportunities for cross-pollination. It also means that, to paraphrase a line from Ratatouille, "Not everyone can be a great climber, but a great climber can be anyone."

Some of the largest gyms in Seoul are quite impressive, but the city is also home to an abundance of smaller, cozy gyms. These gyms often feature very challenging problems, also referred to as “questions”. The difficulty of these climbs stems from the technique and movement required to complete them, although a significant amount of strength is also necessary. Furthermore, some city parks in Seoul boast large outdoor artificial climbing walls for sport climbing, and some even have indoor bouldering facilities. Many climbers in Seoul share their climbing experiences online, with a significant number recording themselves climbing to analyze their technique and identify areas for improvement. It's worth noting that volumes are not always 'on'; they are only active when a same-color hold or indicator is present

We all know you are a climbing shoe addict but I‘m interested in what your fav picks are at the moment?

When are you coming to san francisco to climb!?!

Meanwhile, here in Tulsa Oklahoma, we have a population of about 1 million (if you include the greater metropolitan area), and 1 climbing gym. On the plus side, there's a fair amount of real rocks close by, and you don't even have to drive very far.

6:52 was craaaazy 🤣

Next Destination : Korea ✈Which gym did you like the most?

I found a passion for Korea and its culture from Korean Englishmen on RU-vid. Had no idea that Korea was such a huge fan of dynos as well as barbecue and kimchi 😂

It does look cool and exciting. However, I would like to know how the "climbing culture" in Korea is in comparison to Europe, the USA, or Japan? I may sound like a boomer, but I always like to think we're one big family, regardless of where you are from! So, while it's always positive to see a sport growing, I'm always scared of the social media effect of the need of instant gratification at the expense of the experience climbing offers

is there meant to be no audio at the end when your talking to the camera?

now i just want to travel to korea or japan and climb even tho I am like a v3 climber HAHA

🤓 cha chiiing 🎉

What glasses are you wearing

Also the population figures are a bit misleading since if you include the surrounding cities the population of Seoul is more like 20 million

140 gyms!?

ive climbed in seoul for about 6 years and i actually hate both of those gyms. Next time youre in seould you should go to Seo Jeong Guk climbing for lead, or Koala climbing or Son Song Won climbing for bouldering.

no crimps ;-;