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Malta Now Sport, Or Still Trad?

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 jonnie3430 29 May 2015
Hello,

The weather for the NW looks so bad we are looking at Malta instead. We were initially excited by all the trad climbing that seemed to be there, but some has been retro-bolted (e.g. motorpsycho,) and we were unsure of how much, especially as the new guide seems sport only.

Can anyone tell me how much is still trad and how good it is?
 d_b 29 May 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:
This is going to be a pretty useless reply, but...

I had a poke at some of the rock on my honeymoon a couple of years back but it was too hot to climb. Rock I saw seemed good but not outstanding, in the sense you would be happy to climb it but you wouldn't go there purely for a climbing holiday.

There was still plenty of trad in the areas I looked at, but it was all stuff I examined in passing as I was doing other things - I didn't really go to the honeypots due to it being over 30 degrees and all.

I realise that is really vague... I can try and look up exactly where I went if you like. In any case, I would take a small trad rack even though word is that the classics have largely been retrobolted. Wires would probably suffice for everything I saw.
Post edited at 23:06
 deepstar 29 May 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:

I was there in 2013 and Malta was mostly trad while Gozo was mostly sport. With loads of quality climbs to be had on both islands you should have a great time.
In reply to jonnie3430: I've pointed Simon Alden at this thread. Simon is the President(?) of the Maltese Climbing Club so if he has a UKC account, expect some facts to come your way.

OP jonnie3430 30 May 2015
In reply to deepstar:

Can you recommend a guide book? Preferably one we can buy on the island? We arrive on Sunday, so a bit late for the post...
 spadge 30 May 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:
http://www.mcadventure.com.mt/adventures/rock-climbing-in-malta/climbing-gu...

The "Trad" book can be rented.
I was there this week. Tbh .....I'd just go for sport climbing..Most stuff is bolted. I took 2 sets of nuts and some hexes....never used them once.
 Fiend 31 May 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:

You can borrow my guide if you want. Dunno when you are going but it will be boiling at this time of year and most crags are sunny there. Was perfect at the end of January.

There's a lot of bolted stuff but in 2012 or whenever I went, there was still enough trad to make it worth taking a rack too, it was a nice contrast doing some steep pockety sport and then the thin trad slabs (e.g. Punic Wind area).
 DWS gibraltar 31 May 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:

I would be Dwsing at this time of year
 Elsier 31 May 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:

Interested to hear how you get on, as I'm thinking of a trip there in the Autumn
 Simon Alden 31 May 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:

Hi guys. There's plenty of both sport and trad routes in the Maltese Islands but certainly the current trend is for people to visit the islands for bolt clipping! We are in fact seeing a huge increase in numbers of climbers flying out here from the UK, France, Italy and Germany in particular, primarily because of the publication of the new sport climbing guide which features over 500 bolted routes plus there's at least another 100 newly bolted since the guide came out. The locals climb primarily sport, but we still do get some visitors who enjoy the trad. It hasn't all been retrobolted and some crages are still bolt free (HT slabs/ 100 yds slabs/ Wied il- Bassasa, some areas of Victoria lines etc) while others have a mix. It isn't really too hot yet either, but choice of crag becomes important depending on its attitude..we have valleys like Babu which are shady on one side in the morning and on the other in the afternoon. You can also climb in the cooler evenings after a swim (seawater temp currently about 20deg). There's plenty of DWS as has been pointed out already, which is just coming into "season". Feel free to contact me for more info.
In reply to jonnie3430:

There is still plenty of trad and it is good, but not often done as everyone is into sport at the mo and there are new routes going up all the time.

IMHO Continuation Wall is probably the best E1 on the island, and well worth doing if you like bold but technically easy slab climbing over the sea. Take some long but thin slings and make a threader out of an old wire coat hanger, and don't forget to sign the register
OP jonnie3430 09 Jun 2015
In reply to Elsier:

Quick summary: do your research before you go out, the guide books aren't great, we can let you have our sport one, though it is well out of date given the number of new routes that have gone up and the for are mainly high 6 and above. Lots of routes in the trad guide have been retro bolted and the topos aren't great. They mention dws in both books, but the only dws routes are in the trad guide but lack info on gear needed to get out the water, exit point, etc. The trad routes we were on were chossy and overgrown. You can hire the trad guide, but only Monday to Friday, 9-5, when the office is open. Because we had to cancel the first car hire we could only pick it up on the Tuesday and had to drop it off on the Thursday as we were diving on the Friday. 10 Euros for the hire wasn't a great deal for us.

The island is a fairly hard nosed tourist industry. Hire cars are a rip off and everything is pretty expensive.

Online topos for trad, sport and dws would make it better, as I said, the two guides are out of date and dws isn't well covered at all.

The history of the place is nice for evenings, but it doesn't seem to me to be the trad Mecca in the med that I'd heard about. It's probably okay for sport though.
 Fiend 09 Jun 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:

> Hire cars are a rip off

So it's gone up from £9 a day from a few years ago??

Pity that it sounds like it's changed a lot in general. It was cheap and good fun when I went.
OP jonnie3430 09 Jun 2015
In reply to Fiend:

We had £5 a day, only to be charged an extra E180 on arrival. We sacked that one off and are trying to get the £50 back. The second was £60, but charged us E65 for a 3/4 tank of fuel, E20 for sunday evening drop of and 18% VAT on both!
 Dave Cundy 09 Jun 2015
In reply to jonnie3430:

I'm frankly surprised Simon Alden didn't mention his "Malta New Climbs" which he helped co-write, back in the 80s with Roger Brooks. Such modesty
I'm sure the Fylde MC Secretary still has a few copies squirreled away, for any trad lovers out there.

Dave Cundy
FMC

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