Zelda Tears of the Kingdom: How to open and activate the Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower
Map-revealing towers make a return in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, though they’re in a different form and layout than back in the previous iteration of Hyrule. As a result, some towers have new puzzling elements - including the Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower.
The best way to think of each of the Map Towers spread across Hyrule is as puzzles built around the core mechanics of the game. They’re always deceptively simple, and as a result it’s easy to over-think them.
The map tower on the Sahasra Slope is a classic example of this, and in the review period left us stumped for longer than it should’ve, just like the Popla Foothills Skyview Tower, another map tower with a puzzling element. There's a few of these, in fact, and we've got guides covering the Gerudo Highlands Tower and Upland Zorana Tower to boot. On this page, should you want a shortcut, we’ll explain how to unlock the Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower.
How to unlock Sahasra Slope Tower in Zelda TOTK
When you first approach the Sahasra Slope tower in Zelda TOTK, you’ll find a Rito hanging out called Billson. Billson has been trying to activate the tower - and was even involved in its construction, but can’t do it. Billson mentions that when building the tower, he’d go foraging for mushrooms in the cave at the foot of the tower.
Billson’s words have that classic red thing-you-should-note formatting, but what he says is also something of a red herring. Bringing him mushrooms, or even mushroom-heavy recipes, for instance, won’t do anything.
Directly beneath the tower on the next level immediately down (paraglide down and run a loop of the grassy area below), you’ll find a hole leading to a small explorable cave. Inside, there’s a Bubbulfrog creature you can get a Bubbul Gem from, a bunch of ore to mine, some enemies - and yes, some mushrooms. But none of that is what we want.
Smash your way through the breakable rocks to reveal more and more of the cave, including an alternate exit and some side rooms. Explore the cave fully.
In one of the rooms of this cave, there’s one large rock and two smaller rocks that’ll elicit a chuckle if viewed from a certain angle right in front of you as you enter. If you move that large rock you can reach a hidden area behind - which you should do, but it’s the room that this rock is in that you want to focus on.
Remember what we said earlier about the tower puzzles being built quite firmly around the core mechanics of TOTK - well, this is what you want to do - Ascend from this room.
As soon as you pop your Ascend ability in this room, you’ll see a bit of the ceiling that’s obviously different from the rest. Ascend through it and you’ll be inside the tower, where you can then open it up from the inside by removing the blockage that’s stopping the doors from sliding open.
Once you do, Billson will thank you - and repair the tower. You can now activate it, fill in your map, and use it to blast skywards from now on!