[Photography by Cho Seong-hwi]
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Chung-won = The bereaved family reported on the 17th that mountaineer Yoo Chang-seo (劉昌瑞), famous as the hairy lodge keeper of Seorak Mountain’s ‘Gwongeumseong Mountain Lodge’, passed away at his home in Sokcho, Gangwon-do around 5 pm on the 16th. Age 87.
The deceased, who was born in Jongno, Seoul on October 30, 1938, began rock climbing in 1954 while attending Baejae Middle School. He entered Dongguk University and was an early member of the university’s mountaineering club. In 1963, he succeeded in climbing the side of Dobongsan Mountain’s Seoninbong Peak. Although he joined the Anguk Fire Department in 1963, he devoted himself to rescue rescues from mountain disasters. In January 1969, the first attempt was made to climb Towangseong Falls on Seoraksan Mountain.
In February 1969, following the Korean Mountaineering Association’s effort to resolve the ‘Distress Accident of 10 Comrades in the Valley of Death on Mt. Seorak,’ I quit my life in Seoul in the fall of the same year and went to Mt. Seorak. From January 15, 1971 to 2009, for 38 years and 5 months, I operated Gwongeumseong Mountain Lodge at the end of Hwachae Ridge (a ridge that starts from Daecheongbong Peak, passes peaks such as Hwachaebong Peak, and connects to Gwongeumseong Fortress) on Mt. Seorak. They refused to provide lodging and only sold the bare minimum of drinks and supplies, saying they would not encourage illegal hiking. No alcohol or food was sold. In 1973, she married Hwang Guk-ja, who came to the mountain lodge, and had a son (Yoo Seok-jun).
In 1976, he founded the Seoraksan Mountain Rescue Team of the Korean Red Cross, became its first leader, and rescued numerous lives. According to a Yonhap News Agency article dated February 19, 1983 (‘Mr. Yoo Chang-seo, the hairy mountain man who protects Mt. Seorak’), about 440 people had been rescued so far. He also worked as an instructor at the ‘Seoraksan Mountaineering School’ held every summer and winter by the Korea Mountaineering Federation. We found five habitats for edelweiss, which was once known to be extinct, and also found out the habitat status of hawksbills and mountain goats. He served as the second president of the Korean Mountaineering Club from 1994 to 1998.
When the National Park Service excluded Hwachae Ridge from the legal trail in 2003 and notified the mountain hut to be demolished, they filed a lawsuit in 2008 but lost. In 2009, I closed the mountain cabin and lived in Sokcho. In 2015, the National Mountain Museum held a talk concert titled ‘Living in Seorak by Kwon Geum-seong, a mountaineer and mountaineer Yoo Chang-seo.’ The collection, including the plaque at Gwongeumseong Mountain Lodge, was donated to the National Mountain Museum. He compiled the stories of notes left by those who visited the mountain lodge and published the books ‘Wind, Clouds, Seorak’ (1990) and ‘Stories Left at the Mountain Lodge’ (1992). In 1981, he received the Pomegranate Medal of the National Merit for saving numerous lives based on Gwon Geumseong Mountain Lodge.
May the deceased rest in peace.