Hallasan Yeongsil Course: Hiking to Witse Oreum

2017-06-17 · Updated: 2026-08-11 · Original (Korean)

This article was translated from the original Korean post with AI assistance. Read the original Korean post →

The Yeongsil Course, which unfolds with even more stairs than you can imagine, is less of a hike and more of a battle between me and the steps. If there weren't stairs leading up to Witse Oreum, I wouldn't have been able to climb it, but because they're here, I'm suffering. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Even pushing and dragging myself up as best as I can, my pace keeps slowing down. I wonder if my mom dreamed of being a cheerleader when she was young; whenever we hit a slightly wider step, she sits down and cheers on the exhausted-looking hikers. It's a good thing we came in the winter to even maintain this pace. If we had come in the summer, she would have been too busy talking to every flower and blade of grass along the way to climb at all.

Hikers climbing wooden deck stairs along a snow-covered mountain ridge — It looked daunting from below, and the stairs still look daunting from above.

Snow-covered mountain peaks seen beyond an information board explaining the oreum (volcanic cone) landscape

People walking on a long wooden deck path along an open mountain ridge

A crow sitting at the end of a bare branch with all its leaves fallen

Now the stair section is over, and it's time for the trail where you need to wear crampons. When we left Seoul, I thought, "Should we just go without crampons?" but if I had done that, I would have come back with a cracked skull. There are way more rocks here than on the mountains in Seoul, and the snow hasn't melted, making it the perfect environment to slip and smash your head on a rock. A few brave older guys were hiking without them, but it seems much better to just rent a pair for peace of mind. Still, to give some hope to the brave souls who insist on going without, the distance you have to walk with crampons is short. I don't know if it's five hundred steps or a thousand, but you only need to wear them on the narrow path that looks beautifully covered in snow flowers (frost on the trees).

Hikers walking on a narrow snowy path through heavily snow-covered evergreen trees — Feels like entering a snow flower dungeon.

A hiker in a blue puffer jacket walking down stone steps through trees covered in snow blossoms

Sunlight shining through snow-covered evergreens and bare branches

Tangled tree branches frozen white with snow. — The word 'snow flower' only existed as text in my head, but now I finally have an image to go with it.

Snow-covered forest trees under a clear sky.

Trees and bushes heavily covered in snow over black rocks.

Thickly frozen snow-covered trees and rough-textured black rocks situated below them.

Hikers walking along a wooden deck on a snow-covered mountain path and a rocky mountain in the distance. — The short crampon section is over. Taking them off to walk again.

As the groomed trail reappears, a spectacular view of clouds and snow flowers mixing together unfolds. There's a reason why people always talk about Witse Oreum. We climbed up a mountain, but the clouds are billowing on top of it, creating the illusion of a horizon. A horizon made of mountains and clouds is a sight I've never seen anywhere else. If I try my hardest to find something similar, I guess you could say it's like sea fog rolling over the ocean horizon. But while the ocean horizon feels calm and mysterious, the Witse Oreum horizon feels grand—like a Taoist immortal might appear at any moment.

Panoramic view of people walking on a wooden deck path, a snow-covered plain, and majestic mountain peaks.

Snow-covered plants spread beyond a rope fence and a sea of clouds in the distance.

A massive rocky mountain towering beyond a sparsely snow-covered field of bamboo grass.

Mountain landscape with clouds rolling in beyond a snow-covered bamboo grass field

When you get to Witse Oreum, there's a bonus track called Witse Jokeun Oreum, but many people just pass it by. By this point, your legs feel like jelly, and it's too much of a hassle to climb up there, so everyone just gathers at the entrance of the stairs to rest. I left my mom behind to rest and went up for a bit, but it was too cloudy to see much. When I came back down, my mom was eating something by herself. All our food was definitely in my backpack, so I figured she must have packed something for herself.

"What are you eating all by yourself? Share some with me."

"Yeah~ I told the lady here I was hungry and she gave it to me."

Sitting among the other older ladies, my mom must have kept muttering to herself, "Oh, I'm so tired. Oh, I'm so hungry." The lady next to her heard that and handed her a chocolate bar. Oh, Mother~ lol. It's driving me crazy. My mom is hilarious, but the lady sitting next to her eating the exact same thing is just as funny.

Witse Jogeun Oreum (volcanic cone) information board standing against a snow-covered mountain background

A telescope installed on a snow-covered wooden deck observatory

Mountaintop view of a wide snow-covered plain and a sea of clouds

Majestic rocky mountain peaks seen beyond a snow-covered hill

A massive rocky mountain towering behind a snow-covered hill — Baengnokdam (the crater lake). When will I ever get to go up there?

A stone tower built with red volcanic scoria next to a bamboo grass field

A wooden deck path along a mountain ridge with a sea of clouds to the side