General
One of the original trad playgrounds in Hong Kong, developed in the 1960’s and now brought kicking and screaming into the modern era by a recent spate of development by Rick Siu, who added almost 20 sport routes and a handful more trad lines to the crag. Check out Rick’s excellent mini-guide here and be sure to give him some contribution towards his efforts. A big shout out to Rick for allowing much of this to be reproduced for the information below.
The wall faces to the southwest, so it’ll be in the sun from around noon onward. Base of the wall stays mostly shaded by trees.
All sport routes equipped with 316 SS glue-ins and 316 SS Rings or Rams Horn for lower off. Trad route anchors are bolted
Approach
From the west entrance of Good Hope Primary School, walk up Jat’s Incline for about 270m to enter a wide obvious path (1)on the right. Go up the roughly pathed steps to a terraced area with a few boulders scattered across. Continue generally uphill to reach a truck-sized boulder (2) that’s covered partly with thick tree roots.
Go right of the boulder and follow the path along a dry streambed for about 10-15 minutes, scrambling up a few sets of boulders along the way. A diversion off the dry streambed to the right up a steep dirt slope will appear. Go up this dirt slope with the aid of a series of hand lines to reach the top of the mountain ridge and the view opens up.
Follow the obvious footpath on the ridge towards the crag for about 5 minutes to reach a rock face just below the crag. Turn right and continue for another 15m to another series of handlines on your left. Pull up the handlines to reach the base of the crag.
The crag can also be reached following the Majestic Slab approach and going a bit further, but it takes significantly longer time.
Routes
Note: The locations of the old trad routes are not well known and have merely been estimated from the descriptions in the old DC Reeve Guidebook from 1968! Treat with extreme caution and follow your nose for these.
1) Child’s Hill ** F6b
26m –13 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
2 )Insecure Canyon ** F6b+
27m –16 Bolts
FA: Jo Tang, Rick Siu,5-Mar-2023
3) Grown-Up Mountain ** F6c+
28m –18 Bolts
Rick Siu & Jo Tang (2023)
4) Club Route – HVD (approximation of line only)
Start 10 feet right of the previous climb at the picnic stone. Use the left crack and follow the broken line just to the right of the slabs. Follow the grassy gully and then climb the natural line. Move right and up to the small ledge and belay in the right corner crack. From the belay move left and up the slab. Climb through the sharp little overhang and scramble to a tree belay.
5) Trinitite * VS 4c
10m –Trad. To bolted anchor only.
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
The above line may overlap partially with Giddy Heights (VDiff), although the exact location of this is unknown.
Start to the left of Rumpelstiltsken on top of the ridge. Take the first white rib, which leads obliquely to the right and up to a large scoop. Climb up and in to the middle of the scoop until it is possible to take a belay in the trees. Lead off right from the belay stance up a well defined crack to a v-shaped slab. Belay on top of the slab or link together with the third pitch. Step left and move straight up to the groove leading to a well-defined crack. Layback up the crack until it is possible to start bridging for the final few feet of steep rock. Finish up the easier angled rocks above.
6) Trinity ** F6a
10m –5 Bolts
Good warm up route
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
7) Teller-Ulam ** F6c
12m –6 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
8) Ivy Mike *** F7b+
14m –8 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
9) MAD! *** F7c
14m –8 Bolts
Clip the 4th bolt of Ivy Mike extended then break right to climb the strenuous diagonal crack line
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
10) Arkhipov ** HVS 5a
21m –Trad
Start from the ledges just right of the crack
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
11) Rumpelstiltsken – S (approximation of line only)
Start at the large vegetated crack. Climb easily up to the line of overhangs and use the wedged boulder to overcome these. Belay at the good pine tree. Step back in to the crack and continue up the increasingly vegetated groove to the top. Abseil to descend.
12) Meh F6b
16m –8 Bolts
A meh but crucial route to access the gems above
FA: Rick Siu & Jo Tang (2023)
13) Sunlit Silence *** F7a+
26m –15 Bolts
Use the first 3 bolts above the ledge anchor as aid (stepping included) to get above the vertical section and begin climbing on the slab
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
14) Gradient Ascent *** F7a
21m –11 Bolts
Star of the Crag. Blank AF looking wall is surprisingly climbable
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
15) Gradient Ascent (low start) Open Project
25m –13 Bolts
Adds a much harder section of slab below the original. Start from standing on the good foot hold around 2m below and slightly left of Radiation Sickness’s anchor
16) Radiation Sickness Open Project
12m –9 Bolts
Bouldery, shouldery, and powerful. Go solve it!
17) Demon Core * F6a+
8m –5 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu & Jo Tang (2023)
18) Tickling the Tail Open Project (Trad)
16m –Mixed
Climb Demon Core and continue to immediately face thecrux. Difficulty is about HVS/E1 without the disproportionately hard crux, so worth aiding through the crux to climb the beautiful crack above.
19) Surly Bonds * F6b
12m –7 Bolts
Access route for route 20 etc.
FA: Rick Siu & Jo Tang (2023)
20) I Am, I Wonder ** F7b
19m –13 Bolts
Stay centered or left of the bolt line for the lower slab for purer slab climbing and the full grade, but climb however you like, it’s all meaningless anyways.
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
21) Paperclip Maximiser * F7a+
19m –12 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
22) Mortal Meatbag *** F7a
18m –12 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
23) Brace! Brace! * F7a+
16m –11 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
24) Burning Blue *** F6c
16m –10 Bolts
FA: Rick Siu (2023)
Unmarked) Mantel Chimney – HS
The climb starts on the extreme right of the crag, at the corner just before the large gully and to the right of a series of overhangs. Mantel on to the ledge and then climb the overhanging chimney. Move right to the slab and ascend the wall.
FYI, some hikers successfully access the far right side of Majestic Slabs from September Crag.
Be reminded the start of the climbs are actually elevated. You need some additional steep wall scrambling/climbing from the base of the cliff to reach there.
Access to Majestic Slabs is considered lost. Or please let me know if anyone has information to share. I think the approach now involve some hiking and stream scrambling. You can take 16 minibus from Choi Hung Station and get off next to entrance of Jat’s Incline. 10m past the AA8515 lamp post in Jat’s Incline, there is a trail to enter the stream (鵝肚坑). Go upstream and then turn right to Eagle Ridge (佇鷹脊). When you reach a point with better view, you can see Driblet Outcrop and you can leave Eagle Ridge for it right at the bottom… Read more »