Seoraksan National Park is famous for its breathtaking fall foliage, yet its remarkable winter hikes often go unnoticed. With substantial snowfall, Seoraksan’s winter hikes are not recommended for beginners. However, for seasoned hikers, it is one of South Korea’s must-do winter adventures. Beyond hiking experience, logistical challenges can arise, potentially spoiling your trip if you’re not well-prepared. This comprehensive guide is specifically crafted to help you navigate winter hiking in Seoraksan successfully.
I have written numerous detailed Seoraksan National Park guides for hiking the dinosaur ridge, the main peak with or without the dinosaur ridge, the full Seoraksan ridge, and the Ulsanbawi course – these are helpful for specific details on trails and logistics. This guide is more focused on the winter aspect of a main peak hike – including checking for trail closures, safety and beautiful views.
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Seoraksan’s Best Winter Course
Your Seoraksan Trail is Closed this Winter!
There is a 50% chance your trail in Seoraksan is closed!
Why is this?
- Fall and Spring Fire Closures: (A) mid-Nov to Mid-Dec and (B) mid-Feb to mid-May most park trails are closed
- Seoraksan has two fire closures the (A) fall and (B) spring closures. This means If you want to hike Seoraksan with snow, you will have to plan for a late-Dec to Early-Feb hike.
- Heavy Snow Closures
- The Korea National Park Service takes trail condition monitoring very seriously. They do and will close the trails when they deem fit. They work hard to get the trails reopened pretty quickly, but so much snow coming down, it can be slow going.
Cold and Wind Chill at the Peak
It’s colder than you think it will be
When winter hiking in Korea, the only times I’m cold tends to be when the wind is blowing. In Seoraksan, the strongest windy section is the 0.5 km section between the peak and Jungcheong shelter [중청대피소], and the 1km prior to the Jungcheong shelter heading toward the Huiungak Shelter shelter – making up a straight 1.5km of intense winter conditions.
Unfortunately, long lines to take pictures with the peak stone or to watch the sunrise may leave you waiting at the summit for 20-40 minutes. During this time, standing or sitting still can make you increasingly cold. The best way to combat this is by packing appropriately. This means choosing the right clothing, such as jackets and gaiter, and ensuring your photo setup allows you to take pictures without removing your gloves. For hats and gloves, fluffy designs are great for most of the hike, as they provide ventilation and prevent overheating on the uphill sections. However, it’s also wise to bring wind-resistant options to use during these stationary periods.
For more specific recommendations for winter hiking, I wrote a detailed guide on preparation and packing.
Best Winter Hiking Course in Seoraksan (Osaek – Daecheongbong – Main Entrance)
My recommended course starts at the Osaek [오색], specifically at the Namseorak Park Information Center [남설악탐방지월센터 – green star on map] and finishes at the main entrance, Seorakdong Park Information Center [설악동탐방지원센터 – blue star].
This course is 16.5km long with 1,475m of elevation gain. I completed it in 8 hours, with 5 hours of moving time – with significant breaks at the peak – waiting for the sunrise – and at Huiungak Shelter [희운대피소] – where I had breakfast.
**Worth noting I am an above average speed hiker, so for medium to slow speed hikers expect a longer finishing time.
Having hiked every trail leading to the peak in Seoraksan National Park this is my favorite combo for a sunrise hike. This is because this course allows you (1) to hike without doubling back, and (2) is the shortest course overall course as well as having the (3) shortest, most direct course to the main peak – Daecheongbong [대청봉].
While the dinosaur ridge is an exciting course to hike, it is frequently closed in the winter due to heavy snowfall. In the non-winter months you have the option to add the dinosaur ridge on to this hike. But even without the dinosaur ridge add on, it’s an exceptionally beautiful course to take on.
Osaek / Namseorak Park Information center* can be reached by taxi or ticketed bus from all the major bus terminals in the region (Sokcho, Yangyang, and Naksan). But if you want to do a sunrise hike you will need to travel by taxi, as the first bus arrives at Osaek at 9:30am.
*Nam means south in Korean. It irks me that they don’t translate this right because it would be so much easier to understand if it was ‘South Seorak Information Center’ but they keep ‘nam’ on all the English translations.
In the winter time, the park open at 4am. Assuming you hike on a weekend and start at the opening time, you will be accompanied by plenty of others for a sunrise hike.
As a result, the first 1km is often done slowly in a line. The trail is not easy. This is reflected in the official map trail shading, with the first 3.2km being labeled advanced (maroon colored trail) and the later 1.8km being labeled expert (black colored trail). It’s worth noting that these trail difficulties reflect the gradient of the trail and not technical difficultly. This is not true for a course like the dinosaur ridge which is both demanding and technically difficult.
As you progress, the trail get steeper and the line in turn spreads out.
The trail is arguably easier to hike in the winter for the unevenness of the course is smoothed over with all the snow. This is especially true on the descent between the two shelters, Huiungak Shelter [희운대피소] and Yangpok Shelter [양폭대피소]. In that section I have fallen or almost fallen a couple of time in wetter summer months, but encountered no issues in the winter. With that said, it’s also more slow going, so be prepared to add an extra 30 minutes – 1 hour to your Osaek-peak climb. For example, my ascent was 25 minutes slower than my normal time.
Osaek to the peak is 4.7km of intense uphill, with almost no views until the uppermost 0.3km to the peak. It’s the perfect sunrise course, because you aren’t really missing out on anything too significant by hiking it in the dark.
The official average time for this course is about 4 hours. In the winter I completed it in 2 hours 55 minutes, which is about 25-30 minutes slower than my summer pace. The sunrise started about 15 minutes after I arrived. So if your goal is to see the sunrise, it’s important to train your uphill hiking to ensure you don’t miss it.
The last 100 meters or so before the peak are wide open, and provide views south of Seoraksan National Park. Cresting the hill to the peak, the park’s interior becomes visible.
6:55am: Arrived at the peak. It’s freaking cold. Of course it’s cold in winter, but you really don’t feel it until you are at the peak. The forest along the trail shields you from the wind, but once you reach the exposed summit, you are subject to intense wind chill. Combine that with an early morning arrival and a 20-minute wait at the peak, and it can become dangerously cold.
I came prepared and I’m experienced in Korean winter hiking, having hiked about 40 mountains of the Blackyak 100 mountain challenge in the winter. However, as I was freezing at the peak, I couldn’t stop thinking that these sort of conditions are those that could get you killed without proper wind breaking equipment – jacket, hat, gloves etc.
I was miserable at the peak, but the misery was quickly replaced with joy as the sun began to emerge.
Most of the Koreans stayed at the peak to take pictures of the sunrise over the ocean. However, when I do my sunrise hikes of Seoraksan, I like to go 100 meters down toward Jungcheong Shelter [중청대피소] to watch the sunrise’s colors on the interior of the park.
7:25 am: Departed from the peak heading toward Jungcheong shelter – at the time of this winter hiking [Feb 2024], they had just torn down the old shelter. Only a shipping crate and construction equipment remained.
I didn’t end up seeing the ‘sunrise’ over the ocean (by choice) but I was able to catch the lead ahead of the large group gathered at the peak. I like this approach as I can set my own pace.
It is after this point that you enter into the windiest section of the hike. It was brutal – it felt like I was being sand blasted in the face by shards of glass. I’m thankful I had sunglasses, however I was wishing it had my ski googles at the time. This is a hike that you need to bring a face guard – exposes cheeks would be a mistake. This is not the hike to be testing the quality and effectiveness of your winter gear!
The descent between Jungcheong shelter and Huiungak Shelter is a mix of trails and staircases with a steep decline that orients you to face the east, looking at the ocean. In the winter you can see between the trees so even in the woodier sections of this part of the course, you always have nice views. This is shown in my sledding video below.
Downhill sledding ~ It’s 2.5km downhill between the Jungcheong and Huiungak Shelters. I probably slid down 40% of the distance. While it’s common to see snow on Korean mountains in the winter, most Korean mountains don’t have adequate snow conditions to allow for ‘trail sledding’. It was never so steep that the sliding felt dangerous, especially with your crampons that can be deployed as breaks – but as a caution person I was also not trying to break any land time records either.
In fact, sliding is sort of unavoidable in some sections. In these parts, sledding tracks have been laid down, making the trail feel slick. When this happens, it feels like you are fighting the course not to be sliding.
8:40 am: Arrived at Huiungak Shelter [희운대피소]. I stayed here for 30 minutes to rest and eat breakfast.
In the shelter, there is a fairly large kitchen-esk area that has metal counters you can prepare your food and eat at. In summer there are benches outside to sit on, but in the winter there is no seating. So you have no choice but to stand at the counters. However, it’s so cold in here, you probably need to be swaying to stay warm anyways.
Continuing the descent, you have one more fabulous view of this rock formation before entering the valley.
At this point the trail transitions to medium difficulty (orange colored trail) for the next 4.7km.
The valley descent is mostly a standard snow covered dirt trail, but with two larger sections of stairs. The pictures below show the first set of stairs with the Jurassic Park 3-esk bird cage walkways. The stairs are likely the most dangerous section of this part of the hike, as I was worried my crampons could get stuck, sending me stumbling. Luckily I was fine, but be careful and take it slow!
9:55am Arrived at Yangpok Shelter [양폭대피소]. This mountain shelter marks the end of the steep trail, and the beginning of what seems like the never ending valley walk.
Continuing down the valley, you reach the final stair section. Then arrive at Biseondae [비선대]. This is the major turn off / 3-way intersection that marks the separation between the main entrance easy river walk and the larger Seoraksan hikes. From this point, it’s 2.9km to the main entrance on an easy trail (green colored trail). Its the most populated trail of the park, so I often finding myself dodging and darting around people, as I’m desperate to get near to the entrance to have a coffee and food.
Reaching the main entrance, there are numerous restaurants and cafes within the park. But they do close early – around 5pm. There is less seating in the winter, as its mostly outdoor benches, but there is likewise less demand, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
This main area can also be WINDY! In winter 2023, I went to Seoraksan with my mother just for some main entrance site seeing and its was unbelievably windy and cold, we ended up spending half our time in cafes just to avoid the chill.
Winter Lodging near Seoraksan National Park
To do this trip right, I would recommend staying in Sokcho for two nights – before and after the hike. An example itinerary might be Friday afternoon transport to Sockho, Saturday hiking, and a Sunday return. While you can do this trip as a one-night (the night before you hike), I find it more enjoyable to do two-nights which allows you to have have post-hike makgeolli, then shower and relax without a long journey.
I’ve previously stayed with Blue Door Hostel, a cheap hostel by the beach, and enjoyed my experience there. But if you are looking for something a little more comfortable, the beachside Ramada is your best choice.
However, in the winter, beach access matters less, so I recommend prioritizing convenience and comfort by staying at a location with easy access to the park. Consider the Kensington Hotel which is just a 5-minute walk from the main entrance, or the more affordable Smile Resort. Both options allow you to walk back to your accommodation from the park, avoiding the hassle of a taxi ride.
To hike the course described in this article, no matter where you choose to stay, you will need a taxi to Osaek for the starting point. However, I find it preferable to take one longer taxi ride in the morning rather than two shorter ones, especially when competing with others for taxis after a long day on the trail.
Happy Trekking
-Aurora
