Aventine

They're actually lucky to even field teams for some events. They've been naturalizing like crazy.

soartoday

Wow, after some adventures, it was possible to use the Korean site to buy tickets! Hope others have had luck too.

Aventine

I guess it improved! I bought mine in person.

muji

"At a rehearsal Saturday for the opening ceremony...the temperature was 6 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of 7 below zero — so severely cold that audiences walked out in the middle of the rehearsal."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/weath...ver/309081002/

Aventine

It's really bad. I feel really sorry for those volunteers traveling out there and then braving it out in almost 0 degree weather. Stupid Pyeongchang committee decided to save money on a roof in one of the coldest Korean provinces in the dead of winter!!

Getting back on topic: They're running shuttle buses from Seoul to the games but I expect they're going to be full and a mess in traffic. KTX tickets are sold out for most popular days and during the Lunar New Year.

warrenw

The timing hasn't been great, with the Korean holiday and all happening concurrently with the games. Every seat sells out for the days surrounding Lunar New Year, and apparently Korail gave preference to Korean nationals traveling for the holiday before giving seats to Korail Pass holders, so pass holders were unable to get seats on the train and now can't travel or something like that. Here's an article about it that KoreaTimes wrote.

Korail hit for lack of tickets to PyeongChang

Aventine

At least tolls will be free for roads leading to the games but traffic will be nuts.

hilitr

For those in Korea for the games and also trying to ski/ride, I wanted to relay a few observations from my experiences yesterday in getting to Yongpyong and taking the shuttles.

1. Not all shuttles run every day. The online guide clearly notes the in-service dates, but not all station signage or navigation apps reflect the irregular schedules. Double check before assuming a shuttle will be available for your destination.
2. Knowing that the direct link from Jinbu to Yongpyong (TS5) would not be running on 10 Feb, we tried to take TS30 to TS8, transferring at the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza station. This transfer is a bad idea for the reasons below.
3. There are two distinct stations at the Olympic Plaza – North Gate and East Gate. The two stations are a 10-15 minute walk apart. Each stop serves some routes but not others. The POCOG transport app shows the correct locations for each route.
4. The official volunteers are extremely nice but as of yesterday were still getting the hang of the transport system. We were directed to the wrong location a couple of times. Which leads to…
5. We gave up on the busses and took taxis for the rest of the day. With help from a volunteer we flagged one on the street in PyeongChang. On the return, the information booth at YongPyong called a taxi for us (about a 10-minute wait).
6. Fare from the PyeongChang Olympic Village to YongPyong Dragon Plaza was about W10,000. The drive took about 10 minutes. Fare from YongPyong to Jinbu/Odesan Station was W30,000, and took 25-30 minutes.
7. If the intervals say 10 minutes, they mean 10 minutes. When we arrived at Jinbu Station at around 12:30p on 10 Feb, there were about 150 people in line for the TS30 shuttle. The fully loaded shuttles waited until each 10 minute interval before departing. As a result, we didn’t leave the station until after 1pm.
8. Last note – carrying ski gear onto KTX was pretty painless. On the way out, we had seats near the end of the car and stowed the gear behind the last row. On the return, we leaned the gear in the wheelchair/luggage area. While there are walk-through metal detectors in use at most stations, the security personnel were extremely accommodating with our gear (you’ll understand in person).

Hope this helps the next rider/skier!

Aventine

The best advice I could give for someone going between Gangneung and Jinbu using the free shuttles is try for the train. The shuttles get stuck in traffic.

chichi

Definitely agree about the volunteers, don't take anybody's word wearing those red north face coats and pants. Was given bad information several times. I think they are only trained to answer certain questions if you go outside of that you are asking for trouble.

The bus bus drop off at Olympic plaza was confusing, they moved the TS30 drop off and pickup but didn't move the signs. So pay attention to area.

Food inside any event or area is not worth it, you can bring in plastic bottles if still unopened and food as long as it is not opened.

Get to evets early security is slow.

We didn't have any train issues but booked our seats in advance. Standing room was usually available most of the time.