Just a quick blog post today to share a photo from last autumn. This was from a day trip to Gozo for some climbing in the valley of Mġarr ix-Xini. Actually, I took the photo on the walk down to the valley bottom. The buildings you see on the side are the old water works infrastructure. I think this is one of the most beautiful … Continue reading Wied Mġarr ix-Xini
Taking a few minutes to share a couple photos from late last autumn. At the end of a climbing session in Lapsi we headed over to a shallow cave in the cliffs there, known for a few moderate to hard routes. I wasn’t feeling up to much climbing at that point, so I took a few photos instead. The photo at the top shows the … Continue reading View from Learning to Fly Cave
A change of plans today gave me some time to write a quick blog post, sharing a photo from early summer last year. This was from a climbing outing in Wied il-Għasel, when I let my friends walk ahead while I took a few photos. As I walked down to join them I took this photo of the approach and the crags ahead. The trees … Continue reading Crag Approach
Today’s photo falls into that class of photos where for whatever reason I seem to find beauty in the mundane, the kind of thing that is often classified as an objet trouvé. Of course, I’m not generally thinking along those terms when I take the photo – rather, I’m just responding opportunistically to something that I like (or otherwise resonate with). This particular photo shows … Continue reading Lower Off
For today’s throwback post I thought I’d go back to the tail end of last year, and share some photos from a day out climbing with my good friend Hendrik-Jan. This was during the Christmas holidays, and on this particular day we were exploring some old trad routes in Lapsi. Specifically, we were looking at a section of cliff where the first known routes were … Continue reading Climbing with Hendrik-Jan
Spring’s just started, and from a few weeks ago the weather has really taken a turn here. It’s not just that tee-shirts are mostly enough when out climbing, I even managed to get sunburnt a couple weeks ago. One barely realises, because the wind keeps things nice and cool, but let’s just say I’ve started packing my sunscreen already. So with that preamble, today I … Continue reading Climbing in Lapsi
I’ve been meaning to share these photos for a while. They’re from a couple of climbing sessions in Wied il-Għasel with my good friends Kenneth and Bradley some time last summer. Well, technically in one case I think it was late spring. Over summer I was making an effort to take my camera with me on climbing sessions, simply to increase my chances of making … Continue reading Climbing with Kenneth
Sharing a short video clip today from a climbing outing near Lapsi on Christmas Eve. As you can see, winter is perfect for climbing (and walking and other outdoorsy things) round here. Pity the days are short. In this case, I went down to Magħlaq cave with three friends, two of whom had never been. It’s an abseil approach, which I always find a bit … Continue reading Magħlaq Cave
So long 2017. Thank you for introducing me to trad climbing. And what better way to end the year than to explore the old Royal Marines routes in Lapsi? Continue reading Exploring the Commando Routes
Something a little different than usual, today. I mentioned in an earlier blog post that we bought a Canon mirrorless camera fairly recently, and that I’ve been taking it with me climbing. Well, earlier this month on one particular climbing outing we knew there’d be three of us so I took the opportunity to spend some time practising using this camera while roped in. So, … Continue reading Climbing in Wied il-Għasel
Today is a public holiday in Malta – Republic Day to be precise. It also happens to be one with gorgeous weather, so I spent the morning out climbing with a couple friends. Fittingly, the photo I’m sharing today is from another climbing outing, last weekend. Basically I took this while hanging off a cliff edge, safely roped-in of course. Let’s back-track a bit. I … Continue reading Wied il-Għasel
Sharing a quick snap from my mobile of two books that just came through the post today. I was lucky enough to find these used but clearly cared-for historical guide books of climbing in Malta. “New Climbs” is from 1987 (so exactly thirty years old this year!) and is effectively an addendum to “Rock Climbing in Malta” which dates back to 1971. With a lucky … Continue reading Unexpected Find
Muddy Boots 