General
A recently developed crag right above the heart of Hong Kong’s Central District. The relative ease of access, amenable grades and good quality of routes are sure to make the crag popular. The length of the routes means a 60m rope is a must if you want to get back down again after climbing.
Download the latest PDF guide for the crag here
Approach
The crag can be approached from either the end of Po Shan Road or Old Peak Road (the bit where traffic has to stop).
From Po Shan Road: At the top of Po Shan Road climb up the concrete maintenance staircase to the top of the slope. From the top of the concrete staircase follow an older set of stairs a another 3 or 4 metres up until you reach an old, slightly overgrown footpath (As of feb 2013 this area has been fenced off and it is necessary to follow a fixed line up the steep stream channel to the right of the hoarding in order to reach the footpath). Turn left and follow this for 10 minutes until you reach a relatively open drainage line with little vegetation and a slabby rocky bed (currently (Sept 2012) easily identifiable by the ‘Slope Stabilisation’ warning sign hanging over it). It is also possible to carry on slightly further along the path and scramble up some granite slabs (currently with a wooden staircase up it to provide access for construction workers).
From Peak Road: From the rest area at the end of the road follow the footpath rightwards as it contours the hillside. After 5 minutes or so, just after crossing some granite slabs, the path climbs steeply up a narrow flight of stairs before continuing around the hillside to reach the same drainage channel described above.
Follow the drainage channel upstream for 5 minutes until you reach the base of a small cliff. Traverse right to reach Austin Powers Crag etc. or left until you reach the bottom of a fixed line to access Soho Crag and the cliffs above. The fixed line leads approximately 30m up a steep slab to the base of the crag, where a limited amount of space is available for stashing rucksacks etc. whilst you climb.
Routes
Zoe Ng getting a great night time view of Hong Kong!. Photo: Karen Chan
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Hi. My partner and I just tried to go up to soho, but couldn’t find the fixed rope up the slab. Is it still there? We walked from old peak road direction. We found a pretty obvious set of stairs and went up it but could see anything that was bolted.
Hey Phil – the access trails are about 50m or so further along the trail after the stairs. Not sure if the ropes etc are still there but there’s also a drainage line you can scramble up to access the crag.
Yes, the ropes are still there
The approach from the end of Po Shan Road is clear now. The construction site walls are gone – and there is a new set of concrete steps where some of the construction site used to be. The fence at the top of the steps has been removed too. There aren’t really any multi-pitch routes up there, but you could do Blade Runner or the main line on Soho East in two pitches. Blade Runner allows abseiling in two pitches since it is longer than 30m. It would be an ideal place to learn multi-pitch technique in a non-intimidating setting.… Read more »
Left of Blade Runner there is a long super easy 4 pitch bolted route I put in for beginners to practice multi pitch. Starts at the lowest point of the crags called Gullom Crag just off the access trail up a short wet slab that had a fixed rope. Start on the easy slob at bottom right corner.
Approach from/to the Po Shan Road – still the same as of May 26. 2015.
You need to follow the stream channel for 15-20 meters from/to the road.
Not very pleasant path. Approach from the old peak road is much better.
Great website. Which routes at Central Crags are multi-pitch routes?
Only Blade Runner and Soho East.