Climbing 'Seongji' Rock Park Course Names 'DollimX·Hyeongsu·Manura'... Club Says "No Issues for 25 Years"

Climbing Route Names Are Decided by the First Ascender
No Review Process Means No Means to Regulate Names

A controversy has arisen over course names such as 'Hyeongsu', 'DollimX', and 'Manura' at a rock climbing park located in Wonju City, Gangwon Province. On the 2nd, Women’s Newspaper reported that a rock climbing park in Wonju, known as a sports climbing sanctuary with about 70 routes and convenient access from the metropolitan area, has names that could cause misunderstandings. The most problematic issue is the route names. According to the course bulletin board of the rock climbing park, route names such as 'DollimX', 'Hyeongsu', and 'Hyeongsu2' are attached. Generally, the person who first pioneers a climbing route decides its name. Since there is no formal review process in this procedure, there is no way to regulate whatever names are given.

The names of climbing routes at a rock climbing park located in Wonju City, Gangwon Province, including terms such as 'Hyeongsu', 'DollimX', and 'Manura', have sparked controversy.
[Photo source=Online community 'Theqoo']

As the controversy spread, Wonju City stated that they were unaware of the issue. A Wonju City official explained, "The natural rock climbing site is not managed by the city. It is understood that climbing clubs develop and manage it independently." He added, "We did not know that problematic names were attached. We will look into it." A representative of the climbing club managing the bulletin board explained in an interview with Women’s Newspaper, "The difficulty and names of the routes are given by the person who pioneered the path," and "There are tens of thousands of routes in mountains nationwide; who should inspect and approve all the names? No one has raised issues about the names in the past 25 years." He further claimed, "The name 'Hyeongsu' was given by the friend who pioneered the route with thoughts of and care for his sister-in-law," and "DollimX was named because the route goes around sideways, so that’s how it got its name."

There is controversy over course names containing terms like 'Hyeongsu', 'DollimX', and 'Manura' at a rock climbing park located in Wonju-si, Gangwon-do. On the 2nd, Women’s Newspaper reported that a rock climbing park in Wonju, known as a sports climbing sanctuary with about 70 routes and convenient access from the metropolitan area, has names that could cause misunderstandings.
[Photo by Online Community 'Theqoo']

Netizens responded to the controversy with comments such as, "It’s more absurd that no one raised an issue for over 20 years," "I get chills thinking about how they must have laughed while talking about the route names," "Not knowing what the problem is seems to be the bigger problem," and "The route pioneer’s name is listed, yet they name it like that?do they have no shame?" One netizen commented, "This place is a famous climbing site used by hundreds of climbing clubs every weekend. Honestly, I felt uncomfortable every time I saw the route names, and since many people use it, I hope the routes get proper names." Meanwhile, criticism about misogynistic names on climbing routes has already been raised several times overseas. In 2020, The Washington Post reported that 91% of climbers felt uncomfortable with sexist and racist route names.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.