The tragedy of Ulsanbawi Rock on Mt. Seorak, the limitations and challenges of humans in the face of the majesty of nature. > News

On the afternoon of the 14th, a disaster struck a group of four people who were enjoying rock climbing at Ulsanbawi Rock on Mt. Seorak, instantly turning a peaceful weekend hike into a nightmare. During the climb, a man in his 50s fell down a rock and the rope connected to him was lost along with it. The remaining three people were left stranded on a dizzying cliff, unable to move on. The mountain rescue team dispatched after receiving the report flew a drone and searched all over the cliff, and were finally able to find the climbers who were clinging to the rock wall, holding on to a glimmer of hope. In particular, the image of a woman lying down helplessly in a red mountaineering uniform represents the urgent situation at the time. Unfortunately, the man who fell was confirmed dead at the scene, which clearly proves how fatally dangerous climbing a difficult course is.

The highlight of this rescue operation was the superhuman courage and skilled skills shown by the members of the Special Mountain Rescue Team. In order to reach the stranded people, the rescuers climbed the rough rock wall with their bare hands with minimal help from equipment. The process of turning their backs to the rock wall, taking a moment to catch their breath, and reaching out again to reach the victims was as tense as a movie. Son Gyeong-wan, leader of the Seorak Mountain Special Mountain Rescue Team, emphasized that the Ulsan Rock course is very difficult and very dangerous for those who are not skilled, and revealed that this rescue was accomplished after a desperate struggle that lasted four hours. This dedication of the rescue team shows their will to save precious lives against the harsh nature of nature, but on the other hand, it leaves us with regret as to why accidents at Ulsanbawi that repeat every year cannot be prevented. As a hiker in his 70s died of cardiac arrest at the same location on the 29th of last month, Ulsan Rock is constantly sending warning messages to climbers.

It’s not just Ulsan Rock. On the same day, mountain accidents spread like wildfire throughout Gangwon-do. Near Bongjeongam Hermitage on Mt. Seorak, a hiker in his 60s showed signs of paralysis and was transported by helicopter, and a serious accident occurred near Namseorak Exploration Center in Yangyang-gun, where a hiker in his 60s fell 10 meters. Additionally, on Mt. Duta in Donghae City, a hiker in his 70s collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest while hiking and eventually died, and the mountains in the Gangwon region were literally filled with emergency calls from rescue teams throughout the weekend. These accidents go beyond simple falls and include many problems that occur when climbers overlook their own physical limitations, such as cardiovascular disease or reduced physical strength. As the number of people visiting the mountains increases, we must not forget that the mountains can become a place of disaster at any time if we do not make a cool-headed judgment about our physical strength and equipment.

Meanwhile, apart from the tragedy of mountain accidents, the long history of Ulsan Rock gives us another resonance. The 'deer horn harpoon head embedded in a whale bone', which was recently announced as a national folk cultural heritage, is a valuable relic that proves that Ulsan has been the center of maritime civilization since the Neolithic Age. This relic, which contains the livelihood skills of our ancestors 7,000 years ago when they roamed the seas and caught whales, shows a history of survival that is on a completely different level from the way we enjoy the great nature of Mt. Seorak today. Nature is sometimes an object that humans must overcome and sometimes an object of awe, and at the same time, it is a cultural asset that we must protect. It is a point of sharp contrast between modern people who are intoxicated by the beauty of Ulsan Rock and forget its danger, and our ancestors who wisely coexisted with nature even in a harsh environment.