Sharp Peak

Sharp Peak is the mountain in Sai Kung that everyone photographs from a distance and far fewer people actually climb, and having now done both, I understand why. From the ferry crossing Long Ke or the beaches at Tai Long Wan, it rises in an almost architectural cone, distinct from the rounded ridgelines around it — the kind of peak a child would draw if you asked them to draw a mountain. Getting up it is a different proposition entirely. The final ascent is a scramble over loose rock and exposed sections with no real trail, just a suggestion of one worn into the grass by people who’d gone before.

I went with a hiking group I’d found through an expat forum, on the recommendation of a colleague who undersold it dramatically as “a good afternoon out.” We started from Pak Tam Au, cut across to Chek Keng, and began the climb in early afternoon heat that made me question several of my life choices by the halfway point. There is no shade on the upper slopes. There is also, and this matters, no room for carelessness — a slip on the loose scree sections would be a genuinely bad time, and I saw more than one hiker turn back a hundred metres from the top, which I respected rather than judged.

What’s at the top justifies every uncertain foothold. The summit is narrow enough that you’re standing at the centre of a nearly complete circle of sea and mountains — Tai Long Wan’s four beaches curling below in a gradient of turquoise to deep blue, the jagged ridgelines of the wider Sai Kung peninsula running off in every direction, and on a clear day, Ninepin Islands visible far to the southeast, their hexagonal columns catching the light like a geological accident nobody planned. I’ve hiked in a fair number of countries. I don’t say this lightly: it’s one of the best views I’ve stood in front of.

The descent toward Tai Long Wan is its own reward — you drop down through the ridge directly onto Tai Wan beach, and there is a specific, uncomplicated joy in swimming in the South China Sea forty minutes after standing on a mountain summit, salt and sweat rinsing off together in the same water.

When to go: Cooler months, October through March, are essential — this is not a hike to attempt in summer humidity given the total lack of shade. Go early, carry more water than feels necessary, and skip it entirely after rain, when the scramble sections turn genuinely hazardous.