From Europe to Seoul Last Minute

While at the ICN airport after collecting our bags, I was sitting near the luggage cart with my feet propped up on it waiting for Sangwon to get the bus tickets into Seoul. My backpack with my laptop was rested on top of our suitcases. It was just laying there on top since I would be wearing it in a minute when we leave. Well I happened to jar the luggage cart and my backpack began to slid off. I reached out quickly, elbow down and extended my arm to grab it like you would if doing a curl...well it was heavy and it forced my elbow out of place. It wasn't dislocated, but it sure wasn't feeling normal either. Great...hurt arm...Europe trip short, unexpected flights, funeral...this is not a good start.

The arm was quite painful, so first thing the next morning Sangwon took me to an acupuncturist to try to relieve some of the inflammation. It helped, but it was to take a lot more than one session. For the few weeks we were in Seoul, I went 3-4 times a week to try to get my arm back to normal and climbable before heading back to Europe. Not exactly what I had planned...but hey, after Bird Flu, and Rabies in S.E. Asia, getting caught in hurricanes and tropical storms in Central America...and getting ran over by a drunk driver in the US, what is a little injured elbow?

The Acupuncture actually worked wonders, by the time we were ready to head back to Europe, I could climb on easy stuff again. It was sure better than nothing!

The funeral was a sad event, and I respectfully won't go into details, but I will say that loosing Mi-Sun was very difficult for everyone that knew her, and that she had such tremendous support from those around her.

While in Seoul, we made a trip to spend some time with Sangwon's family and visited a famous temple nearby Daegu. The photo's are below.

Euro Trash: Chamonix, France

After the work season ended, I flew to Geneva Switzerland where Sangwon picked me up and we drove to Chamonix, France, which is located in the French Alps. Sangwon had a Worldcup competition there a few days before, and placed 12th. It was so nice to just arrive spend time together; working really took it out of me and I needed the rest.

Sangwon knows a couple from S. Korea living in Chamonix so we met up with them and went on a day trip to an alpine lake. It was so beautiful-even as it rained!

Sadly, a good friend and mentor of Sangwon's tragically lost her life while climbing in the Himalayas. We booked tickets back to Seoul immediately and had to put the climbing on hold. Sangwon had known Go Mi-Sun, (Go Mi-Young 고미영) since he was a child, and she was a huge influence on him and his climbing career. On July 11, after reaching the top of Nanga Parbat Mi-Sun fell off the edge of a cliff while on the descent in bad weather. She was an mountaineer and was one of the only people to summit 3 8,000-meter peaks in one season-she did them in 6 weeks-Makalu, Kangchenjunga, and Dhaulagiri. She was on a quest to be the first woman to climb the world's 14 highest peaks (the eight-thousanders). I was thankful to have been able to be with Sangwon and support him during such a difficult time. So off to S. Korea we went.

Here are photos from Chamonix, France and surrounding areas.