A few months back, a few of us charged up to the top of Pohang, South Korea for a nice view, some pizza, and an inappropriate amount of beers. I just found this picture in the archives and figured it shouldn’t go to waste!
Marius saying something insightful, probably about pizza…Mike pretending to listen…
We’ve got a lot of stories being fine-tuned and fact-checked by our fact-checking team! Stay tuned for more to come! In the meantime, enjoy the weather, get out there and take some pictures!!
On a recent trip to The Philippines with some friends I only had two goals: 1. Get SCUBA- certified. and 2. Check The Philippines off the Mountainbeering Map! I am happy to report that both were accomplished with great success!!
We stayed on the island of Bohol, which is basically famous for two things other than beautiful beaches and great diving: 1. Tarzier monkeys
Kind of reminded me of The Gremlins...
Don't worry, we weren't acting touristy AT ALL...
and 2. The Chocolate Hills, where the real adventure began!
We started our journey in true “Mountainbeer-ers on vacation” fashion, with some beers on the ride over.
Jenny and Em gearing up!
After a quick stop at the monkeys, we set off to The Chocolate Hills! Most of the vegetation covering the hills is protected, so you actually have to take the road most of the way up. However, we crushed the 214 stairs leading up to the summit and had a blast cracking beers and taking in a really cool view.
A seasoned Mountainbeer-er right there.
The 3 of us coming in from South Korea...
The 2 coming in from China...
Dudes.
Chicks.
We spent a bit of time wondering if there was actually chocolate to be found in these here hills. Luckily my buddy Dan works for Hersheys Chocolate
Dan in his office...
and assured us that there was DEFINITELY tons of chocolate inside the hills.
We chose a variety of Filipino beers for the trip...I'm partial to Redhorse however. Not just because it was the strongest beer either 
Anyway, it was a great adventure on one helluva trip down to an amazing country! Don’t let anybody tell you The Chocolate Hills are not worth the trip. Grab a beer and go make the trip worthwhile!
and remember that traveling is ALWAYS more fun in bright colors...
Thanks to Em, Dan, Teags, and Jenny for an unforgettable new Mountainbeering adventure!
The Team!
Cheers!!
Bucket-lists. Many people have them. Personally, I tend to be more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sort of guy, but I respect the idea that people have goals and a way to motivate themselves to achieve them. I mean, if it worked for Morgan Freeman I’ll give anything a shot.
No doubt he took some beers up those pyramids...
Anyway, there is a fun group out here in Pohang, South Korea, both Koreans and Westerners, that have been checking things off a collaborative list of things to do in our area over the next year or so. One of the checkpoints was to hike up Mt. Naeyeonsan (내연산) at Bogyeongsa Temple. It’s a pretty cool hike, loaded with waterfalls and beautiful terrain. It was actually the site of my first Korean Mountainbeering adventure way back when!!
As expected, this group took to the idea of Mountainbeering with sheer enthusiasm!
Vera and Yully taking charge!
Also, with a solid team of 18, this might be the largest group documented Mountainbeering to date! One for the record books!!
With such a large group, we actually had our lovely friend, Vera, equipped with a mini-megaphone and “Bucket-list” flag (which accidentally jumped into the river at one point) to keep all of us beer-drinking lemmings in line and entertained!
Our fearless (but a bit shy) leader, the unforgettable flag, Eugene, and again Yully with another beer!
Even though 18 strong, a lot of our members were new to Mountainbeering…so I decided to take charge and show them some things:
Let's go...up?
We spent the day hiking around, stopping at some awesome waterfalls, going off trail, jumping around on rocks and eating pre-labelled bananas (seriously):
Everyone's name written in Korean hangul..
Party at the waterfall!
Eugene hanging out at the top of a ridge.
Forrest baited the 3 Korean girls with beers to come on the rocks...he's so sneaky
So they took the beers and pushed him over the edge of the waterfall...
So we sent out a search party to find our friend, Forrest...
buttttttt....we got bored so we went back to the waterfall and partied some more...oh wait, there he is!
So maybe Forrest was never lost, but we did come across our poor flag floating downstream. Flag loss aside, it was a great day spent outdoors! Once again we were not privileged with the option of a truly tasty beer to accompany the tastiness of the terrain, and our company, but alas we made it work…as Mountainbeer-ers do!
bridge-fest!
Cheers to the whole crew! Congrats to those who are now official Mountainbeer-ers…I hope your life will be changed forever!
The whole team!
Cheers!
We mentioned our friends finishing winter up north, but here is our friend, Ethan, just getting things started down in New Zealand! Bonus Mountainbeering points for the bad-ass ice-pick/deadly weapon…
Ethan, "killing it" in NZ!
We’ve had some pictures coming in from friends that are sadly closing out their 2011-2012 ski season. What better way to celebrate then with a frosty treat!
Brian with his PBR:
Brian taking down a PBR on his way up the mountain!
SGT. Meyer resting her legs and exercising her liver a bit on the top of the mountain!
As she says best: "Life is good."
Cheers to the end of another good season. Bring on the spring adventures!!!
Heading off to The Philippines for some scuba diving, fun in the sun, and to spread the art of Mountainbeering even further!! The area of Bohol in The Philippines is known for its Chocolate Hills.
So we’ll track down some local suds and charge up these hills! Story to come, stay tuned!!
The weather is slowly starting to turn around here in South Korea, with warm days becoming more frequent. That only means one thing: more chances to get out and explore, preferably with a beer (or two) in hand.
A couple weeks back I set out for Busan, an awesome coastal city to the south, with the lovely Korean girl Yully. We stopped to fuel up with some live eel before taking Yully on her fist Mountainbeering adventure!
No lunch is complete without a bottle of Soju!
I little scary...a lot of deliciousness!
With full stomachs, and a bit of a Soju buzz, we headed to the mountain!
Yully at the trail-head.
We opted to each represent our respective countries with our beer selection…
They look like they're having a good time together...
Them too, I guess.
And in true American fraternity boy fashion, being by the beach means “sun’s out, guns out!”
The beach is the beach.
I thought I was brave taking my shirt off in January…well it turns our Yully is way more badass than I am. She decided to splash around in the water in this little cove we found.
She went all the way out to the end.
Again, being the American I am, I would not let a 90lb Korean girl show me up…
The boats going by were quite surprised.
Anyway, after hiking down to the water and having a couple beers, we hiked back up and over the other side of the mountain. Stopping along the way for a pretty excellent sunset!
ye yeeeahhhh
Awesome day all around. Congrats to Yully for her first official Mountainbeering trek! Definitely not her last, I’m sure!
Cheers!
We found the snowman doing some ice fishing in Hwacheon (화천), South Korea. It is home to the world’s 4th largest winter festival, the Sancheoneo(Mount Trout) Ice Festival!!
He's a ladies Snowman...
Here he is with Canadian Brittany just enjoying a beer and getting ready to find his arms so he can do some fishing!
Who knows where we’ll run into The Snowman next?!?
I recently received a message from my friend, Emily, who is living in Indonesia, about a Volcono-beering excursion she recently had. While waiting for her to send me the adventure (she’s obviously been busy)
Ukulele-beering?
I decided to take matters into my own hands. I jetted down to Jeju Island, an island off the south coast of South Korea, which is known for its beaches, sex museums, and namely Hallasan! Hallasan is the highest peak in South Korea. It’s a volcano. It hasn’t erupted since the year 1007. With a long weekend ahead of me, it was a no-brainer to get down to Jeju and get up this mountain!
View from the beach.
Not only was I pumped to do some hiking, but I also found a microbrewery on the island. I thought to myself “finally a craft beer to hike with in Korea!”. However, when I went to the brewery the night before the hike I discovered that they do not bottle their beer. Bummer. That said, I did try their boris and their stout while I had dinner.
Pretty good flavor, lacking in the finish.
The stout was the better of the two. Unfortunately they didn’t have the pale on tap, I was pumped to taste a pale ale. If you’re ever in Jeju, head to Modern Time Brewery and let me know how it is!!
Unlike the brew, the hike did not disappoint. I began before sunrise, around 6am, in hopes to catch a cool sunrise on the 2.5 hour journey to the summit.
Strapping on the YakTraks
The entire journey was a trek through tons of snow (awesome) and the beginning was completely pitch black, which made for a fun start!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz67bXLswFo&feature=youtu.be
Nothing like cruising up a volcano, in the snow, in complete darkness...
About a quarter of the way up, I finally got some rays of light as the sun started to crest. So pretty I almost stopped for a beer right then.
Here it comes...
With the sun lighting the way, I decided it was time to kick it up a notch, running up any decent pitches and only stopping when something really caught my eye. One example being some deer tracks I happened upon. Normally this wouldn’t be that exciting, but evidence of wildlife in Korea is a pretty big deal!
They do exist!
One last shot of an awesome rock face before the summit and that beer was all mine…
Such a beautiful day out!
At the top, I cracked open an OB Lager (another Korean convenience store delight…) and soaked up some rays with a couple other Koreans that made the sunrise journey as well!
Volcano-BEER!
Summit buddies!
After a couple beers, it was time to venture down the other side of the volcano. Wouldn’t you know, look who I ran into half way down…!
Everywhere, this guy...
Me: Hey there Snowman, what are you doing in Jeju?
Snowman: Just taking it in, sucking back a few, you know.
Me: Right on. Well…see you later!
I stopped midway down for some kimbap (kind of like Korean sushi) and another brew before making the final decent.
Lunchtime above the cloud line.
Kickin' it.
I pretty much slid/skied with my boots the rest of the way down, which was super fun. I high-tailed it back to town for some hot soup and a night at a Korean jjimjilbang (sauna-bath-house) which was a great ending to one of the best outdoor adventures I’ve had in Korea thus far. I never expected a volcano-beering to be in the snow, but then again Korea constantly continues to surprise me!
One of Jeju's sex museums...
Cheers!
Hallasan - OB Lager - January 2012
Grand Canyon Brewing Company, Horseshoe Bend Pale Ale
I figured it was time to bring Mountainbeering back to the US for a while. Patrick’s been hogging the spotlight over in South Korea for long enough.
If I only have one day to spend in a place, I want to do it right – with a beer in hand. That’s exactly how I decided to tackle the Grand Canyon National Park. And thanks to the delightful Grand Canyon Brewing Company found in the little town of Williams, AZ, choosing the beer to take with me wasn’t too tough: Horseshoe Bend Pale Ale. Choosing the best day hike, on the other hand, was a bit more of a challenge, simply because there are so many great hiking options. In the end, I decided to be macho and choose a hike that ranked in the double digit-mile range, which helped me narrow my choice down to Plateau Point off of the Bright Angel Trail.
View from Bright Angel Trailhead
As it turns out, the Bright Angel Trail is one of the more accessible and popular routes into the canyon. Even though it was a chilly, midweek day in March, there were still quite a few people who had decided to use this trailhead as their starting point for their day’s activities. Luckily for me, it was cold enough that the trail was completely iced over, which helped to weed out a few more of the less passionate hikers. Unluckily for me, since it was cold enough that the trail was iced over, I fell down… a lot. To be honest, this was one of the scarier hikes I’ve ever been on, simply because the trail was super steep and complete ice. I made a mistake by ignoring the Park’s suggestions to wear some form of traction control for the hike. I should know my lesson by this point of my life: always wear protection.
The hike itself was incredible! After the first mile or two, the ice gave way to mud, so no more slippery slopes. The views were amazing, and the other hikers were generally friendly. This was my first big canyon adventure, and let me tell you, starting your hike with a 3,000 ft decent is a strange experience. The first six miles were done in no time, then I realized that I had to turn around and go six miles back uphill. The views were spectacular!
View from Plateau Point
View from Plateau Point
Even the squirrels can enjoy a good view every once in a while!
At this point, I was torn. I was used to enjoying my beer after the toughest part of a hike – when you reach the top. But this was the exact opposite! Even though I was at my destination, it was the bottom of the hike. Luckily, cogitating on this conundrum confused me, and I decided that I needed to chill out and have a beer. Problem solved.
All of the other hikers at the viewpoint were thoroughly jealous of my beer at this point
Plus, I had the rest of the six pack waiting for me in my truck. Good thing too, because Horseshoe Bend Pale Ale is delicious! It’s crisp with nice hops aroma, but not too bitter. I’m glad that i went t with a pale ale because even though I love a strong IPA, I’ve come to the conclusion that most IPAs tend to be too bitter for seriously strenuous Mountainbeering adventures. I couldn’t wait to hike my butt back up to the rim to enjoy another beer or two before continuing my adventures!
