UKC

Apologies, this is my second destination thread in 48 hours so I guess I'm using the hive mind as my own personal holiday organiser.

I was given the 2008 Matla guidebook a while back as a mate was having a book clearout. I was shocked to find a pile of what looks like high quality trad sea cliffs with much within my grade, up to HVS. I'm well aware that a photo can give the illusion of perfect rock and sun soaked fun but I was wondering what the reality was. Is the rock a Pembrokeshire style solid rock or a pile of crumbly Torridon cheese? Would you recommend Malta as a place to enjoy a few days of warm, steady trad climbing in June? We've no interest in clipping bolts. Thanks as always.

well, I think the guide might give a tad too rosy picture... I recall a lot or a portion of the lines previously trad are now bolted.

That isn't to say, that the bolted lines are bad, actually I had a pretty good time there just clipping bolts (even though I was also planning on trad adventures... but didn't use 'em once).

We were using a more modern guidebook when we were there and even then found that a lot of it had been retro-bolted. 

It's a great place for a sport holiday with maybe a bit of DWS and trad chucked in if you fancy it but I think if you specifically want trad, there are probably better options. You might be quite disappointed when everything you go to do has fixed gear!

I spent an enjoyable week on Malta and Gozo climbing up to VS. Shirt sleeves in November. The rock was often a bit brittle rather than loose with lots of small sharp holds and many little threads (which might have snapped in a fall). Almost no insitu gear and never saw another climber....however it was 50 years ago and things will have changed a lot!

Trad routes being bolted up..... Can't believe they would do that if the protection is OK. I doubt that will work for us unless there are areas where the drills have been kept away from the crags. I get that sport for our European friends is very popular and it's easier to fly with a few quickdraws rather than an entire rack but it's a real shame if good quality trad routes have been sacrificed.

Are there areas where the bolts have been kept away or is it all sport now?

From what I saw, there were still trad lines left if they were good/popular for the most part. The approach seemed to be similar to South Wales sandstone in that, for the most part, obvious good trad lines (e.g. cracks, tufa-y features with natural gear, etc) were left trad and the rest was bolted.