33
[105]
HONG KONG HILLS.
PART II.
MA ON SHAN (2,261 feet), and some neighbouring hills. G. S. P. HEYWOOD.
Of all the Hong Kong hills Ma On Shan is my favourite; its steep wooded slopes falling straight to the sea and the graceful curve of the skyline between its two peaks make it the most beautiful of our mountains. It is a fine climb by any route, and on a clear day the view from the summit is unsurpassed; to the west Tai Mo Shan shows its full height; to the east, seeming almost beneath one's feet so steep is the slope, lies Port Shelter, and beyond it are blue hills and blue water along miles of coast to Bias Bay in the distance. Even on a cloudy day it is worth a visit; a mountain never looks so impressive from below as when its slopes disappear into the mist, and the imagination is left to picture fantastic peaks above.
The mountain has been happily described in an article by Mr. Gibbs in H.K.N. Vol. II, p. 214; his sketch map shows all the paths referred to below.
The Hunchback Ridge. The south and west sides of Ma On Shan can most casily be reached by taking a sampan from Lok Lo Ha, about a mile and a half beyond Shatin on the Tai Po road; the voyage across Tide Cove takes twenty minutes or so, and is a pleasant way of beginning and ending a day's scrambling. The sampan lands us at Tai Shui Hang, and we take the path which turns uphill to the left behind the last house in the village; the path winds along the side of a valley some distance above the stream until it joins the Iron Mine road near Ma On Shan village. The road is followed for a few hundred yards westward to the foot of the Hunchback ridge; a faint track can be discovered winding steeply up the ridge, which provides a most airy and exhilarating climb to the summit. The top of the first hunchback is a delectable place for the lunch halt; here the climber can recline on sun-warmed rocks, while dangling his feet over the edge of the cliff a hundred feet or so above the tree-tops.
The way up the second hunchback is steep and slippery; nailed shoes give a sense of security which the handholds of straggling grass fail to provide. The third and highest hunchback (2,226 feet) is reached in about 21⁄2 hours from Tai Shui Hang, and 20 minutes more are needed for the walk along the narrow ridge of the saddle to the top of Ma On Shan.
The short cut directly down the S.W. face towards Ma On Shan village looks simple but is not to be recommended; I have vivid recollections of a nightmare struggle to reach the stream through thick scrub, where spiders of incredible size would appear with startling suddenness a few inches in front of my face. A better way is to continue along the ridge and so down to the Iron Mine by the route described in the next paragraph.
The South Ridge. The easiest way up the mountain starts from the Iron Mine about half a mile S.E. of Ma On Shan village. Fortunately for the walker there are at present no signs that this secluded bit of country will become a smoky industrial area. Peace reigns, and the lorry which used to jolt up and down the road between the mine and the jetty appears to have made its last journey. Beyond the mine a path crosses a shoulder of the hill into a narrow valley which descends from the high ground im-
July 1935.
.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.