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http://www.smt-greatwall.com/english/index1.asp
Simatai. Simatai is located in northeast of Miyun County, Beijing, 120 kilometers from Beijing. It starts from Wangjinglou in the east and is connected with the Golden Hill Ridge Great Wall in the west. The construction began in the Hong Wu Period of the early days of the Ming Dynasty. In the Wan Li Period ramparts and watch towers of the brick Great Wall was under construction. The Simatai pass gate was located in the canyon that connecting today’s Simatai Reservoir and the Great Wall from east to west. The Great Wall built there has many architectural types because of the precipitous topography. There are single rampart, double ramparts, brick walls, stone walls, brick-stone walls and reliable defensive and offensive barrier walls. On the flat terrain, the rampart was built high and strong, and is 5 to 6 meters wide. The rampart on the cliff to the peak is less than a meter wide, only could be passed for a single man.
When tourists climbing up the steep Simatai Great Wall and looking up, they will find it is like an endless straight line going into the sky. There is a section of 2.4 kilometers long, ascending abruptly from elevation 295 to 986. The summit of Simatai is Wangjinglou, standing on the peak of nearly a kilometer above sea level. Looking northward from the building, there are partly visible continuous mountains; looking southward, there is a wide expense of flat land. ‘The steps to heavens’ are leading to Wangjinglou. The steps are 100 meters high from bottom to top. The gradient is over 80 degrees, almost in the vertical position. It is said that in ancient times a myriad twinkling lights of Beijing could be seen from Wangjinglou (the building from which scenery of Beijing could be enjoyed) in a fair night.
