Sometimes, you have to go to the edge of the Earth to find unridden snow. That’s what Eliel Hindert and Sakeus Bankson did, where they discovered a small backcountry community on Ulleung-Do Island a four-hour ferry ride from South Korea into the middle of the Sea of Japan. Eliel, a Salt Lake City local who now lives in Whistler, B.C., gave the Inertia Mountain a little insight on the mission:
Just getting to Ulleung-Do Island is about as difficult as it comes for a location with modern transit. If it’s not the 18 hours of air travel to Seoul, the 6 hours of driving to the coast, the 3 days of waiting for the seas to be calm enough for the ferry to run, or the 4 meter waves the entire boat ride out causing literally hundreds of passengers to vomit in unison, then it’s the fact that the roads getting around the island are so steep they have to spiral over themselves rather than switchback, or the fact that the only way to access the snow laden volcanic crater at the at the heart of the island is solely by foot.
But when you’re dealing with a remote island in the middle of the Sea of Japan that has a history of breaking world records for snowfall, where you have the option to ski to the ocean or to the heart of a volcanic crater where a 400-year-old thatch hut awaits, it’s worth it. Cause there are only 6 other resident skiers on the entire island. So logistics are a minor hiccup in comparison.
There’s really only one main road on the island that runs along it’s perimeter. So when we decided to start touring from the opposite end of the island on our second day, it meant a 2 hour ride in the bed of a truck to get to the trailhead. While the road doesn’t gain much elevation, when it does, it does so with a vengeance. An almost unbelievable set of switch backs and icy roads left our seemingly invincible tiny truck with wheels spinning, slowly sliding backwards on a road barely wide enough for a single vehicle on the precipice of some very precarious cliffs. But in calm form, our local host and driver – Mr Choi – told us to get out. As we jumped out of the moving vehicle he swung the tires to the side, slamming the rear wheels into a small wall along the inside of the road. We watched in awe as he smoothly let the momentum from the impact force the front end down hill and spun himself the opposite direction, downhill, in a move that would be right at home in Steve McQueen flick. He shouted out the window that he’d be back in 5 minutes with chains. He came back. And we shredded.
No normal days on Ulleung-Do Island.
