Winrevair Goal # 1: Namsan Tower ✅
- TWB
- Jun 4
- 3 min read
When I started Winrevair (Sotatercept), I set certain goals for myself if or when the medicine started working.
When I visited Seoul in September 2025, I took the tourist bus to the highest point it can reach on Namsan Mountain. From there, the only way to get to N Seoul Tower, also known as Namsan Tower, is on foot via a steep uphill climb. At the time, I didn’t even attempt it. I knew it was beyond what my body could do, and that moment stayed with me long after I left Seoul.
After starting Winrevair in December 2025, knowing I had a trip to Seoul planned for May, my first goal was clear: train so I could attempt the Namsan Tower hike.
For months, I trained on steep hills and walking paths near my home, carefully measuring grades and distances to replicate the climb as closely as possible. Using my RingConn ring, I monitored my distance, oxygen saturation, and heart rate so I could train safely. I had a plan, and I was determined to give myself the best opportunity to reach the top.
As my endurance improved, I started researching the different routes to Namsan Tower. Some routes include shared roads, one includes a cable car half way then walk. Some with paths. Others included stairs. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a bit of a “go big or go home” person. If I was going to attempt the tower, I wanted to challenge myself safely and see what I was truly capable of.
That’s when I discovered the Namsan Sky Forest Trail—a new trail that opened that is a continuous uphill route through the forest with a paved smooth path, not on the road. The trail climbs nearly 600 feet over about 1.3 miles before reaching the same location where the tourist bus had dropped me off months earlier. From there, I would still need to complete the original climb to N Seoul Tower—another roughly half mile and 200 feet of elevation gain that I hadn’t been able to attempt in September.
Instead of starting where the bus left off, I decided to start at the bottom and do it all.
When the day finally arrived, I felt ready. I started at the base of Namsan Mountain and made my way up the forest trail, carefully monitoring my oxygen saturation and heart rate along the way.
When I reached the same spot where the tourist bus had dropped me off months earlier, I stopped for a moment. Just a few months before, I hadn’t even attempted the climb from that point. Now, after hiking up through the forest, I stood there realizing how far I’d come. Then I turned toward the tower, because I still had more work to do.
The final stretch from the bus drop-off area to the tower is still a steep uphill walk. In September, I hadn’t even attempted it. This time, I kept going.
As I got closer to the tower, it hit me that none of this would have been possible just five months earlier. Not the forest trail. Not the climb. Not any of it. I stood there and cried, overwhelmed by how much had changed in such a short period of time.
It was hard. Really hard. But it was worth every step.
Goal # 1: Completed. ✅
I celebrated by heading to the top of N Seoul Tower and looking out over Seoul from a place that had felt completely unreachable just a few months before.
Before leaving, I stopped at the Sowondam (Wish Wall) and left a wish of my own:
“To keep getting better & climb more mountains.”
Because while Goal # 1 is complete, I’m not done dreaming yet.
Here’s the full time lapse of the hike!
And an overview of the hike:
#winrevair #sotatercept #PAH #pulmonaryarterialhypertension #namsantower #nseoultower #seoul #accessibilitytravel
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