I was talking to a close friend of mine (His name is Jae-heung) about going somewhere during my vacation – he’s currently a freelancer slash working on his own business so he had flexible times. We were debating between Jeju Island (unironically never been there) and the East Sea.
We ended up going to neither of those places.
The Who
Our final party had 3 members.
I’ve always been a ‘the more the merrier’ kind of guy, but I think that’s been especially true while living in Korea. It’s part of the reason why I’ve been able to make so many connections and friends here #humblebrag and why many of my friends have met one another – which really isn’t a common thing here.
Many Koreans have a ‘no-mixing’ policy: like.. your high school friends are your high school friends, and your college friends are your college friends. NO MIXING.
But, me being the stubborn foreigner that I am, I like to introduce my friends who I think will get along. I reached out to another friend of mine (Soo-young) to see if she’d be interested in joining. She’s never skied before but she eventually agreed to come. We’re all the same age, so I thought it would be a good time.
On Age in Korea:
You might have heard this before, but in Korea, one’s age is quite important and comes up often. Depending on who’s older or younger than you, you need to use different honorifics and language.
The Where
Now that we had our members, we had to figure out where to go. There are a few major ski resorts in Korea. I’ve been to most of them at least once, but mainly it comes down to the day you’re going, price, and distance.
Basically, weekends are the worst time to go because everyone is off then. You’ll really be questioning your life decisions when you spend 10 minutes coming down a run and then 20 minutes waiting to get on the lift.
Price varies from resort to resort (obviously) but the nicer ones in Pyeongchang or places like High1 will be more expensive.
Then there’s distance – the closer to Seoul, the better. Having to slog back home after a day on the slopes is killer. But it also means that the places closest to Seoul are the most crowded.
Verdict: Elysian was our pick. It’s not the greatest in terms of slopes (limited variety, low difficulty), but that actually made it perfect since we had a total beginner. It’s close to Seoul and is the only resort that still runs a free shuttle from many locations (theoretically – more on that later).
The Prep
Planning was pretty simple once we knew where we were going. You can buy lift tickets and equipment rentals as a package off of Korean sites like Tmon (that’s where we got ours). If navigating Korean is a bit of an issue for you, you can always check places like Trazy which are generally pretty cheap and comparable.
My spending so far: 52,640 KRW (6 hour lift pass + equipment rental) + 11,280 KRW (Ski jacket + snow pants rental)
I only have a big unwieldy jacket and a very slim tech jacket with me, plus no snow pants at all, so I opted for the clothes rental too. I threw on some Uniqlo stuff underneath and called it a day.
The Morning Of (Disaster)
We all agreed to take the free shuttle at locations close to our respective houses. The shuttle times vary but they were all around 7:20 AM, which meant it would be just past 9 AM when we arrived.
This is where it went so horribly horribly wrong.
While Jae-heung and I got on our buses without any problem, the bus that was supposed to pick Soo-young up drove by her. Like, literally ignored her and kept going.
So… yeah. We were off to a great start. She had the presence of mind to call the resort, who said they would check with the driver and get back to her. When he called her, he just told her to meet the bus at the next stop. When she asked how long she had to get there, the driver simply said to come and didn’t say by when.
Huh??
At this point, when I was reading the updates through our group chat, I fully expected her to give up and go home. Honestly, I would have went home and hit the showers immediately.
But she decided to head to the next stop anyway. When she got there, no bus. When she called the driver, he said they’d already left.
Obviously, one furious phone call to the resort later, they suggested taking the next bus which departs at 10 AM. But that would mean not arriving until after 11, and also that Jae-heung and I would be waiting there for 2 hours until she arrived. We wouldn’t be able to ski either, because then our passes would expire faster.
We told her to just take the ITX train instead. One good thing about Elysian is that it’s quite simple to get there by subway or high-speed train. The ITX leaves from a bunch of locations in Seoul and gets there in just over an hour.
By now, whoever was in charge at the resort probably took over from the newer employee my friend had been speaking with. They constantly called her, and in the end, offered to compensate her for all her transportation costs and a complimentary meal. She agreed, and to their credit, they wired the money to her account right away.
Arrival
In the end, Soo-young got there at around 10:30 AM, which meant about an hour and half wait for us. Not too bad considering what happened in the morning.
It worked out decently well too – we had bought 6 hour lift tickets, which meant that if we started at 11 AM, our passes would expire at 5 PM, which is when they close the slopes for an hour to comb the snow and stuff anyway. Also six hours of straight boarding/skiing is ambitious (we would end up leaving just past 4 PM).
Rental
Getting the equipment was pretty simple. We’d purchased our stuff on the internet, so we had to go outside the ski house (to where you actually get on the slopes). On the side, there’s like a room with a bunch of automated kiosks where you can scan your mobile voucher to print the tickets you need. If you are purchasing on the spot, you can just go to one of the manned booths.
I ended up forking out another 3000 KRW for a helmet (this, gloves, and goggles are not included). The question ‘do you need a helmet?’ used to always make me think twice, but not anymore. In the end, saving 3000 KRW is not worth a head injury. Safety first!
My spending so far: 52,640 KRW (6 hour lift pass + equipment rental) + 11,280 KRW (Ski jacket + snow pants rental) + 3000 KRW (helmet) = 66,920 KRW
Once you have your tickets, you just go inside and visit the various booths to collect all your stuff. There are some changing rooms and lockers you can use to store things as well. Jae-heung’s pro-tip was that if you don’t have any valuables, you can just toss your bag on top of the lockers. I ended up stuffing my extra clothes and my shoes in an empty locker (the lock was broken and didn’t work anyway).
Getting on the slopes
Once you’re good to go, you just need to go through the turnstiles leading to the slopes. The system is decently high-tech in Korea. Your ski-pass is like a card that you just tap onto the turnstile, which opens, like you do on the subway. No need to fumble with sticking a ski-pass on your jacket or hanging it somewhere. Most people just put it into one of the sleeve pockets in their ski jacket.
Lo and behold, when I opened the pocket to put my pass in, there was like a dozen used lift tickets there, staring at me like a graveyard of abandoned souls.
Throw out your garbage before you return your rented clothes people..
The two of them were skiing, so I had nothing to do with that. While they were doing their lesson, I ventured off to get some runs in.
Boarding
Overall, it didn’t go too bad. My snowboarding is still far from being satisfactory, but at least I can make it down the run without too much difficulty. It’s a work in progress.
At some point, I caved and bought a Powerade (RIP my 4000 KRW) because I was so thirsty. They have water available for free at the ski houses, but I didn’t have my bottle and it was annoying to keep using the disposable paper cups. I planned to finish the drink and then fill up the bottle with water to bring with me.
Pro-tip: bring a bottle if you get thirsty like me.
By around 4 PM, I was gassed and we decided to call it. Our plan was to take the free shuttle out to Chuncheon and have some of the famous dak-galbi (spicy stir fried chicken).
Chuncheon Dak-galbi
AKA the real reason you go to Elysian. Nami Island is also another popular spot nearby. It was simple enough to take the free shuttle to the subway station (Baekyangri 백양리역). Then you can ride the subway line to Chuncheon.
From the station, we took a quick taxi ride (literally like 5 minutes) to the Myeong-dong area where the chicken street is. It’s very walkable but our legs were complaining after 6 hours on the slopes.
At this point I was so hungry my stomach was literally eating itself. I didn’t eat anything the whole day because the prices are insane at the ski resort. Easiest OMAD of my life honestly.
Hye-jeong Dakgalbi (혜정닭갈비)
Restaurant Details
Open Mon-Fri 10AM to 10PM, Sat/Sun 9:30AM to 10PM.
Note that opening hours can always change, check Kakao Map to be sure.
We ordered 3 portions of chicken, an order of Korean rice balls (everyone was giving me flak for it but they ate it anyway), and 2 orders of cheese fried rice which they make around the end of the meal.
I honestly want to tell you that the food was amazing – which it was – but I have no idea if that’s because the food is actually good or if it’s because I spent six hours snowboarding. Either way, it was mega delicious and I don’t even like dak-galbi usually. The cheese fried rice is always killer at the end and this time was no exception.
My spending so far: 52,640 KRW (6 hour lift pass + equipment rental) + 11,280 KRW (Ski jacket + snow pants rental) + 3000 KRW (helmet) + 23,198 KRW (meal split 3 ways) = 90,118 KRW
Headed Home
After eating, we reserved seats on the ITX train via the KORAIL app. It was a weekday night so the train was basically empty. Tickets cost 7,700 KRW, rounding my total to basically 100,000 KRW exactly after splitting the taxis.
Not too bad for a ski trip, Chuncheon, food and transportation.
As soon as I sat down on the train, I passed out and woke up at my home station. The station I live at has an ITX/KTX platform, so it was super convenient to get home.
Pro-tip: it’s often better to take the ITX back from Elysian because the shuttle leaves at 5 PM from the resort, which means it usually gets stuck in Seoul rush hour traffic.
It was definitely a day of ups and downs, but I was satisfied. Elysian is super convenient, all things considered, so it’s nice for these kind of quick day trips. If I was a more serious boarder (I’m not) then I might be bored, but for just a casual experience it doesn’t get any easier than a free shuttle bus (as long as it actually stops to pick you up) and ITX train access).
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