General
Several fine small buttresses of compact Hong Kong granite with great views down and over the Tai Tam reservoir complex..
Access
Access to the crags at Mount Butler is gained from Mount Butler Road, starting in the area just downhill from the HKPF Explosive Ordnance Depot in the old Mount Butler Quarry Site and opposite a Water Supplies Department works compound. This is best reached by a short walk from the 24M minibus stop at the intersection of Mount Butler Road and Clement Road or by taxi. From Mt Butler Road, follow the concrete stairway up the hill for about 5 minutes until you reach the footpath running alongside the Jardine’s North Catchwater. Follow this path eastwards to reach the Hong Kong Trail. Turn left onto the trail and follow this around the top edge of the old quarry until you reach a set of steps and short length of brown painted hand railing. Just before these, a trail breaks off right and heads down the hill to reach the crags themselves a few minutes later.
Routes
The routes on both buttresses are generally less than 15 m in length and can be climbed with a rack of about 10 quickdraws, the girdle traverse of Reverse Engineering being the only real exception to this.
Left Wall
1) Render Safe * F6b
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
2) Up n Smoke F4
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
3) Quick Match * F4
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
4) Directional Effect * F6a+
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
5) Part Obsession, Part Paranoia * F6a+
F.A. V. Wong & F. Haden (2021)
6) Flashback * F6a+
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
7) Dud F6a
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
8) Actuation F6b
F.A. F. Haden (2021)
9) Hoist with His Own Petard * F6b
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
10) Reverse Engineering * F6b+
A rising right to left gridle of the crag that starts up the previous route and finishes at the first line, and needs a few more quickdraws (14) than all the other climbs.
F.A. F. Haden (2021)
Right Buttress
1) Free Fire Zone * F6b
The first flake on the left side of the buttress starts off easily enough, but soon gets thin and tricky once the flake peters out and you’re left with a big move to the break above.
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
2) Turning Point * F6a+
Climb through the ledges low down until a series of committing layback moves up the flake above eventually bring you to a slabby upper section.
F.A. F. Haden (2021)
3) Butler Service ** F6a
Romp up the juggy flakes to a committing finale to reach the chain.
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
4) Round the Twist * F6b
Follow the flakes through the lower bulging wall to get established in a scoop in the slab. From here move precariously left along a sloping ledge to eventually gain the anchor on Butler Service.
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
5) Direct Action ** F6b
A series of positive flakes low down leads to some technical crimpy moves in the upper part of the face.
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
6) Gain of Function ** F6c
Delicate moves up the lower slab lead to a small overlap, where a technical crux awaits to pass through this and gain access to the crimpy slab above. The most interesting route of the crag.
F.A. F. Haden (2021)
7) Divided Years F6a
Not quite the famous John Dunne route, but the two overhung corners weave an interesting line up the face with burly moves through the one low down and a more technical approach required for the one high up.
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
8) Tribal Times * F6a
Make powerful through the short wall low down before continuing directly up the interesting slab above (no sneaking off right) to reach a similar ending to Divided Years.
F.A. F. Haden & V. Wong (2021)
