Kim Min-cheol: The Ice Climber on Physical 100

Kim Min-cheol is a mountain rescuer & ice climber. He is 30 years old and his height is 180 cm.

The professional background of Kim Min Cheol

• Kim is a mountain rescuer with the Bukhansan Special Mountain Rescue team and attributes his muscle strength to real-world training while rescuing people
• Kim is also an ice climber and is part of the national ice climbing team
• He is also an active wall climber and rock climber. Kim Min-Cheol is 180 cm tall

Stage Eliminated in Physical 100

The 30-year-old ice climber, Kim Min-cheol was eliminated in Quest 5, Game 1 (5-way tug)

Performance in Physical 100 (Season 1)

Kim Min-cheol won the very first challenge of Physical 100 – the hanging challenge – by staying on the structure for 18 minutes and 15 seconds.

He was then part of Choo Sung-hoo’s team for the sandbag and the ship ship-drag challenges.

Kim chose the “Wings of Icarus” as his challenge and won to get to the top 5.

He lost the 5-way tug challenge to the season winner Woo Jin Yong by a margin of seconds.

Strengths

• Kim himself spoke about his muscles not being “built in the gym” but in the course of his work as a mountain rescuer. As a rescuer for high-altitude missions, Kim has developed amazing upper-body strength, aerobic capacity, and endurance.

• Kim’s interest in multiple climbing sports also gives him a great sense of balance and agility. 
• Kim is calm under pressure, a quality needed by rescuers 

Interesting facts about Min cheol

• He was one of the relatively lean and small participants at Physical 100 but still got to the top 5 convincingly

• Kim Min cheol is also an ice hockey player and you can see his adventures on his Instagram profile

Social Media Presence: Kim Min-cheol’s Instagram handle is @kmc_1203. He often posts pics participating in climbing sports or enjoying the outdoors

What is ice climbing?

Ice climbing is a climbing sport where athletes scale vertical ice formations using ice axes, crampons, and ropes. Glaciers and frozen waterfalls are common routes for ice climbers.

Due to the possibility of changes in ice structure during the climb, leading an ice climbing route poses a greater challenge than a traditional rock climbing route and also requires “ice screws” a piece of equipment that secures a climber to the wall in case shifting or breaking the ice

National Geographic featured two climbers trying to scale the frozen “Bridal Veil” waterfall that is over 40 stories high