The Hong Kong Trampers - Walk on 8th March 2009---the highest mountain climb

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Walk on 8th March 2009---the highest mountain climb

Written by Francis,

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Area	Distance	Duration*	Elevation	Level of Difficulty
From Tsuen Wan to Tai Po	about 12km	About 7 hours	Lowest:200 m Highest: 957m

*excludes travelling time

1. This Sunday, 8^th, March, 2009, we'll climb Tai Mo Shan, the highest mountain in the central part of the SAR. We'll meet at Exit C inside the Tsuen Wan MTR Station (MTR Tsuen Wan Line) at 11.00 a.m. on the day.

2. Most people walk the MacLehose Trail up to Tai Mo Shan top; but this Sunday, we'll be off the beaten track. From Tsuen Wan MTR Station we'll take transport to Yuen Yuen Institute, a Buddhist Retreat Centre nestled in the hills on the periphery of the Tai Mo Shan Country Park. From the Institute we'll walk into the country park, climb up Wo Yeung Shan, and then further up to the top of Tai Mo Shan.

3. From Tai Mo Shan top (957m) we'll descend the Shan, now on the beaten track, viz. the MacLehose Trail, but only for about half an hour. We'll then walk out of MacLehose Trail and on to a smaller trail to a hill top at 588m above sea level. From this hill top we'll descend all the way down to Lin Au, and from there walk a short distance to Tai Po to finish our walk.

4. Don't be scared by Tai Mo Shan being the highest mountain in Hong Kong. There should be no bushwhacking (hopefully) up the Shan, and unless you run all the way to the top in one breath, this walk should be an EASY three booter for an average hiker.

5. If you are still worried, there is an early exit at the Tai Mo Shan top; but this exit is a boring one hour walk on a paved road down to Tsuen Kam Au where you can take transport back to the city.

6. Bring all the usual things, a lunch, enough water, a torch, sun block, mos spray and if weather looks dodgy, rain gear.

7. If it is raining hard or thunderstorms are threatening, the walk might be cancelled. If in doubt, call the trampers hotline 8209-0517 in the morning.

Note:- Please note that this walk and any other walks organised by me may finish late due to a host of different reasons. The duration given on top of this walk proposal is only a rough estimate. We may have to walk longer than the estimated time and so there is a possibility that we'll walk in the dark (i.e. after sunset). It is prudent that you bring a small torch with you to this walk.

Disclaimer:- People join this walk and any other walks organised by me at their own risks. I shall not be held responsible in any way for any injury or death incurred or any loss or damage to personal property caused due to whatever causes including, but not limited to, negligence, neglect, errors of judgement and inadequate orientation skills on my part. The fact that you show up at the time and place on the day to join the walk is an implication that you have agreed to and accepted unconditionally this disclaimer.

Francis.

Last update: 04-03-2009 20:13

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Posted by Francis, on 15-06-2009 12:55,

1. The Tang poem in the Walk Report

The Tang poem quoted at the end of the Walk Report is written in Chinese and is thus posted in "AÔ-‡"(Traditional Chinese) in the "Comment language" under "Users' Comments".

Click "AÔ-‡" in "Comment language" under "Users' Comments" at the top of this Comments space to read the poem.

Francis

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Posted by Francis, on 13-06-2009 14:40,

2. Walk Report

Walk Report

1. History will record that this walk on 8th March 2009---the highest mountain climb---was very bitter but also sweet in Trampers’ book of hiking.

2. Twenty one Trampers met up at Tsuen Wan MTR not knowing bitterness was beckoning them. Bitter was not the climb up the highest mountain in Hong Kong. As Francis had said in the walk proposal, the climb up Tai Mo Shan was an easy three booter, and this was true in every sense of the word. There was no bush whacking….nothing.. just the fog that blocked out any view of the lowlands. Everybody was happy, even after hearing Francis’ strong statements about sex equality.

3. It took the group two hours only to climb up to the top of Tai Mo Shan from the Yuen Yuen Buddhist Institute. The trail was clear and the walk up was pretty pleasant. At one point near the Shan top, the group ventured out of the main trail to walk on a short cut which nobody in the group had ever tried before. Short cuts save time. Apart from saving half an hour walking, the shortcut, more importantly, also saved this half hour walking on the boring paved road of Tai Mo Shan.

4. On reaching Tai Mo Shan top, Thomas decided to take the early exit, a decision that he would never regret. The remaining hillbillies were stupid enough to follow stupid Francis to walk into an episode of their hiking life that they would never forget.

5. The group descended Tai Mo Shan on the boring paved road. After twenty minutes, the group, as planned, walked out of the paved road and its dirt trail extension (both the road and the extension were part of MacLehose Trail) and veered onto a faint trail that was supposed to take them to the hill top at 588m above sea level. Problems began to emerge soon after, as this faint trail soon disappeared. Alex suggested to Francis that the group would create a trail and walk across the slope to the 588m hill top. Francis, who was at the front, did try to create the trail, but it was soon clear to him that this was too arduous a task to accomplish within a reasonable time, not to mention all the scratches and cuts that he would have to endure in the trail creation. At that time, Francis spotted the spur of a hill nearby and suggested that there might be a trail on the spur. The decision was taken that the whole group would do a bit of bush whacking to walk over to the spur. And so every Tramper drummed up courage and walked through the bushes for 10 mins to the spur. To everybody’s delight, a trail was there running on and along the spur. The group then happily walked on the trail. In a short time, they reached the 588m hilltop.

6. The first part of the walk from the 588m hilltop down towards Lin Au in a northeasterly direction was easy, but after sometime the trail fizzled out after it had turned to a northerly direction. This time Francis and Alex had to create a trail through the bushes. That took some time, and the newly created trail led the group to an old and overgrown trail which obviously had been disused for a long time. At one point the group walked into and along a stream, but Alex suggested that the group should walk out of the stream as soon as possible as it was getting dark and stream walking in darkness would be too dangerous for some of the inexperienced hikers in the group. The group soon walked out of the stream and returned to the old, disused trail, again after some bushwhacking. By that time, the group heard somebody whistle for help. It was two young men who had lost their way and were stuck in the bushes. They were in the middle of an orientation skills competition organized by Operation Raleigh International (Hong Kong Branch). Trampers became chevaliers and rescued these two young men from the bushes. These two young men followed Trampers down hill towards Lin Au. However, the old, disused trail also fizzled out. Great attempts were made to find another trail and, after this had failed, to create a new trail. All efforts were fruitless. The bushes were just too thick, and there was a stream/gully behind the bushes. It would appear that the only possible way out was to cross the stream/gully; but Alex insisted that it was too dangerous to cross the stream/gully in the dark. The group’s spirits were dampened, very much so because the Lam Kam Road was close in front of the group, yet it was so unreachable. The road was so close that they could hear the traffic running along it and see the yellow light of the street lightings reflected by the fog up in the sky. They could even hear dogs barking, thus a logical assumption that a village was close by down the hill.

7. After the fruitless search for a trail and creation of a new one for two hours, a decision was made to call ‘999’. The Fire Service responded to the call. A request for help was also made to the Raleigh men who were down in Lin Au organizing the orientation skills competition. Numerous conversations on the mobile phones were had between Trampers and the firemen/Raleigh men. The firemen and the Raleigh men then divided themselves up into three teams for the rescue mission.

8. There were two problems facing the rescue teams. Problem no.1 was that they had to know the group’s exact location, and problem no.2 was that they had to do some real bushwhacking before they could reach the group, and Francis and Alex knew this was not going to be easy.

9. In their efforts to help solve problem no.1, Trampers found the tallest tree in the vicinity and shone all their torches onto the top of the tree in the hope that the rescue teams would see it. If they could see it, they would then know the group’s exact location. But the rescue teams could not see it, one reason being the heavy fog that was blurring everything out, and another being the hilly terrain that was blocking their views.

10. Seeing that light did not work, Trampers then turned their attention from light to sound. The following were Francis’ commands to the group:-

“One, two, blow!” And every Tramper who had a whistle blew his/her whistle hard.

“The whistle blowing had to be short and sharp; let’s do it again.”, demanded Francis who was prepared to discipline those who would not listen.

“One, two, shout!” And every Tramper who had a vocal cord shouted.

The shouting of the twenty Trampers and the two Raleigh lost sheep was real loud. It shook Francis to his foundation and he almost fell.

“Excellent! Your shouting for sure had woken up all the monkeys, wild boars, snakes and rats in these hills! Keep it up!”, exclaimed Francis who was no longer mean in dishing out compliments to this group of noisy Trampers.

As it became clear later, the whistle blowing and shouting were instrumental in guiding the rescue teams to spot where Trampers were stranded.

11. During the four hours or so when the group was waiting for rescue, most, if not all, of the Trampers, were calm and composed. Unbeknown to the rescue teams, the Trampers were sharing jokes and laughter, and there were some real fun during this time. Even the two Raleigh lost sheep chipped in some jokes. (In hindsight, it was fortunate that the rescue teams did not know or hear our laughter; otherwise they would, seeing no emergency, probably had postponed their rescue plan until after daybreak.)

12. When mid-night struck, there was still no sign of the rescue teams close in the vicinity. The group started to feel tired of the (and getting bored) whistle blowing. Alex said he would think that the rescue teams would not come until after dawn, as he had heard that firemen would not be fully operational at night in light of the difficulties and hazards involved in the execution of any rescue plans in the hours of darkness. A streak of despair flicked across the group, followed by some moments of silence. Then, at about 1a.m., the group burst out laughing as one of the firemen in the rescue team said in a loud voice through his loudhailer:- “Very well done. Good blow job” (he meant, literally, on the whistle). The whistle blowing obviously helped the rescue teams a lot in locating the group in the pitch dark. The fireman’s compliment via the loudhailer did not just bring laughter but also hope….hope because his voice was so loud that every Tramper knew he was very close. Then in the next minute, Alex shouted “Big hand! Big hand!”, and everybody responded and welcomed the arrival of the rescue teams with clapping hands.

13. It was clear that none of the Trampers had ever loved firemen more than this moment before. They were not only heroes but gentlemen. They took off their jackets and jumpers and gave them to those Trampers who were feeling cold. They dished out biscuits and chocolates to those Trampers who were feeling hungry. The very nice Raleigh organizer who was part of the rescue team took all the trouble to make some hot water with his gas stove (which he had brought along on the rescue mission) for those Trampers who were feeling thirsty.

14. After refreshing themselves, the group were led off the spot by the firemen and Raleigh organizers, and walked all the way to Lin Au in Tai Po. Once again, these gentlemen demonstrated an enormous amount of care and patience in guiding and helping the group through the difficult terrain and across the slippery slopes. When the group hit Lin Au village, they walked into the warm hands of a dozen police officers who had been waiting there for hours and who were quick to feed the hungry Trampers with hot instant noodles. After the refreshments, the group was then offered a lift in the police vans to Tai Po Town Centre, and from there they sped off home in different directions.

15. It was 3.45a.m. on 9th March 2009 when the group hit Lin Au to finish the walk, a walk that straddled a mid-night, an achievement that very few hiking groups in Hong Kong had made.

16. The heroes of the day were the firemen and the Raleigh organizers. They demonstrated a high degree of professionalism and dedication to duty in the rescue mission, and they have shown to any pessimistic Tramper of the day that in this worldliness when he/she has lost hope, a helping hand is around. All the noisy Trampers were the unsung heroes; the rescue mission would not have been successful without their, in the words of the fireman, “good blow job”.

17. I have said at the beginning of this report that 8th March 2009 was a very bitter but also a sweet day for Trampers. Bitter because it was an ordeal being stuck in the mountains in a foggy and cold night. Sweet not only because of the support between the twenty Trampers themselves during a time of hardship and the care and warmth they received from the fire and police officers that night, but also because of the fact that it was for many Trampers the first occasion they came to know firsthand that Hong Kong has an excellent Fire Service and Police Force that they can justly be proud of.

18. In ending this report, I would like, as usual, in my high-spirits (spirits, I mean, my whisky), to draw reference to some classical Chinese literature. Below are verses from a poet of the Tang Dynasty which aptly reflect, in a romantic light, the terrain at Lin Au, the chance meeting of the two Raleigh lost sheep and the depressed and changing mood of the Trampers during the time when they were stranded:-

0âuWŸñ)ñØ°`
ÜqãŠ°²1ïKº?

4ø"á/Ö K¢
÷½
‹I£¤åUt?
ßNBK
J}
®Nãã
HÈ¼¼w™^!V;Ä;¼wòHOB

‹Ã Õ‹£

Report written by Francis

P.S. A big THANKYOU must go to Alex and Ringo who helped Francis in co-ordinating the walk and in alleviating the pain when the group was trapped in the hills.

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Posted by Francis, on 19-03-2009 12:47,

3. The Rise from the Fall--Lin Au Revisited

1. “Let's get up from where we fell!” This was the statement Alex made after the group ‘had fallen’ in the hills near Lin Au in the walk on 2009-03-08. Francis of course echoed this statement in his loudest voice.

2. On 2009-03-15, exactly one week after the fall of the Trampers, seven undeterred trampers, to viz. Alex, Ringo, Francis, Xiao Fung, Nerrisa, Vivian and Peter met up in Tsuen Wan MTR and hiked up again to Tai Mo Shan. (Hiroko was not sure if she wanted to risk being stranded one more night in the hills and decided to back out in the last minute). This time they walked up the Shan via a different route as the one up on 2009-03-15 was ‘too easy’ and they are not easy men and women to repeat easy routes.

3. The weather on this day was a complete opposite to the foggy one a week before. It was a cool, sunny and dry day, a perfect day for a hike. As the group gained height on Tai Mo Shan, the Tsuen Wan Town and the beautiful plains below slowly unfolded themselves, and the graceful boulders on Wo Yeung Shan above stood themselves in positions ready to be explored by the group.

4. Once on the top of Tai Mo Shan, the magnificent seven became cautious and vigilant, as first they did not want to repeat the same mistake they had made the week before and to be stranded again, and second they wished to find out how and why they had gotten lost in the hills. After descending Tai Mo Shan on the boring paved road and its dirt trail extension (both the road and the extension were part of MacLehose Trail) the group arrived at the point where the faint trail forked out to the left. This time, however, they snubbed the faint trail which they had used the week before and walked straight on, until they arrived at another trail which also forked out to the left. After some 30 minutes walking on this other trail, they arrived at the 588m hill top.

5. Extra care and caution were exercised from this 588m hill top onwards. Just before the 588m point, the group split into two smaller groups when the trail itself split into two minor trails. The two smaller groups reconnoitred one minor trail each. It so happened that the two divided trails re-joined later. The first tricky point was passed. The group now walked in a more confident manner. But there was not room for complacency, because Alex, Ringo and Francis knew there was still another tricky point to pass.

6. Peter had a dinner appointment in Kowloon to attend after the walk, and he was expecting the walk to finish by 4.30p.m.-ish. Alex had “promised” him the walk would be finished by this time so that he would not be late for his appointment. When the group passed the first tricky point, it was already 4.15p.m. and so time was very tight for Peter; he was for sure going to be late for his appointment. The group would have to walk fast, just try to make Peter’s lateness not too late.

7. Then, one more time, and bloody one more time, these seven Trampers were, despite the good weather conditions, fooled again! It was at about 5.00p.m. that the group arrived at a spot where the trail split again. From this split point, one trail led off to the east and the other ran off downhill in a due north direction. The convergence of opinions was that the trail running downhill in the northerly direction was the right way, as it was evident from the map that Lin Au was almost due north, and we could actually see a cluster of villages not far away down the hills in that direction. However, after 20 minutes walking on this downhill trail, Alex, Ringo and Francis started to feel a bit uncertain about the way. First it would seem from a visual survey of the terrain that this downhill trail would probably lead the group to a stream or gully at the bottom of the valley; and a stream or gully was something that the group would try to avoid as the exuberance of vegetation around them are often traps for hikers. Second, the trail became less and less clear, a painful reminder of the same kind of trails that eventually fizzled out the week before. But there seemed no other ways which looked promising either; and so the group kept walking on the trail, until they hit a stream bed. As it was clear they were already in a stream-ridden area, the group retreated and walked back to the point where the trail had split. The retreat back to the split point took half an hour, and it was clear that Peter would be very late for his dinner appointment, if he would ever make it. Once they hit the split point, the group tried the other trail that led off to the east. It had not occurred to the group that this other trail was the right way to Lin Au, but now there was no choice. There was this way left, and only one way left.

8. And, thank Buddha, after walking for 10 minutes on this other trail, it started turning to the north, more north the more the group walked. And coupled with the fact that this trail was a clear and distinct one marked with ribbons, the group was getting more and more confident that they were on the right way. Then they started descending the hills, another promising sign. The trail eventually joined a concrete pavement. After walking for 15minutes or so on the pavement, the group hit Lin Au at 6.45p.m., and from there walked on the motor road down to Tai Po Town, this time without the company of police and fire officers.

9. Once in Lin Au, Peter immediately sped off to his appointment; he was very late. However, he did not grumble, because he had read the notes and disclaimer at the end of the walk proposals, and he is, unlike some few Trampers, mature enough to understand that there is always a certain amount of risks that untoward incidents might happen in any outdoor activity and that things may not always turn out the way he wants them to.

Report written by Francis

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Posted by Kin, on 13-03-2009 13:18,

4. Damn

I missed all the fun and excitement. Glad you all made it back safe and sound.

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Posted by Peter Kwong, on 13-03-2009 07:05,

5. Confirms

again my belief that Francis, Alex and Ringo are great hikers as well as adventurers.
Peter

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