Ma On Shan
"The ridge got narrower with every step, and so did my confidence, and somehow that combination was thrilling rather than frightening."
The 'Saddle Mountain' above Sha Tin — a serious climb through old quarries and pine forest to one of the sharpest ridgelines in the New Territories.
Ma On Shan means “saddle mountain,” and once you’ve seen its silhouette from Sha Tin or from across the water on Sai Kung’s peninsula, the name stops being an abstraction — two humps of rock connected by a dipping ridge, unmistakable against the New Territories skyline. I’d looked at it for months from the window of a friend’s apartment in Ma On Shan town before finally committing to climbing it, mostly because everyone who’d done it described the final ridge with a specific tone of voice that suggested it wasn’t entirely straightforward.
They were right to. The standard route up from Ma On Shan Country Park passes through an old, abandoned quarry — rusted machinery half-swallowed by vegetation, a strange industrial ghost sitting inside a country park — before climbing steeply through pine forest that thins out as you gain altitude. The final approach to the main peak narrows to a real ridge walk, exposed on both sides, with drops steep enough that I found myself moving with more deliberate attention than I usually bring to a hike. It’s not technical climbing. It is, however, not a trail for anyone uneasy with heights or bad weather, and I met two separate groups turning back because of wind that had picked up faster than forecast.
At the top, the reward is a 360-degree view that rivals anything else in the territory — Tolo Harbour and Sha Tin’s grid of towers to the west, the Sai Kung peninsula’s jagged coastline to the east, Tai Mo Shan’s bulk visible in the distance on a clear day. I sat with my back against a trig point, ate a sandwich that had gotten slightly crushed in my bag, and watched a kite — the bird, not the toy — ride a thermal in slow circles below the summit, which felt like a genuinely privileged thing to witness.
The descent options vary — back the way you came, or down toward Ma On Shan Country Park’s visitor centre on a gentler gradient that takes the pressure off tired knees. I chose the gentler route, mostly out of self-preservation, and was rewarded with a barbecue area full of local families roasting things over charcoal on a Sunday afternoon, which felt like the right, unglamorous way to re-enter civilisation after a few hours on that ridge.
When to go: Clear, calm days only — wind exposure on the summit ridge makes this a poor choice in typhoon season or on blustery winter days. October to December offers the best combination of visibility and manageable temperatures for the steep initial climb.