by David Grima

Editor’s Note: Alla Jhobbok made headlines recently after being fully equipped as a sport route. Originally climbed in traditional style in 2012, the line had remained unrepeated due to its serious nature. In the account below, David and Matt describe the second-ever ascent of the route — and the first ascent of its newly bolted, safer sport version.

You’d think the highest sea cliffs in Malta & Gozo are made of hard rock… well, don’t expect any here (bar the immaculate bottom pitch). Half of the route is a choss pile from millennia of weathering. But hey, that’s part of what makes it such a beautiful adventure.

We’d had our eye on this route ever since stumbling across a Vimeo video  by Stephen Farrugia of the first ascent by Stevie Haston and Simon Alden a few years back. Though in all honesty, we never mustered enough courage to give it a go.

Then on March 31st this year, Simon posted an update:

“Another long morning was spent dangling many meters above the sea today.  Alla Jhobbok, Malta’s longest multi pitch at 140m is now fully equipped and ready to go. It took a lot more time than expected but we got there in the end. Again, many thanks to Pierpaolo Cirrottola who has assisted throughout providing valuable support. This is not a route for the fainthearted.  Although it’s a hundred times safer than when I first climbed it 12 years ago, seconding Stevie Haston who used very sparse, very doubtful trad gear for protection, it still requires extreme care as the rock is always doubtful. It’s technically easy, surprisingly so. Climbing the route is more about the adventure, the exposure and experiencing the beauty of the surrounding sea cliffs and sparkling Mediterranean below. Three chillis in the new guidebook. If you are thinking about trying it, let me know and I’ll be pleased to provide more detailed info.”

Just reading the post I was stoked, called my beloved buddy Matthias Camilleri, arranged time off work, and messaged Simon. His reply:

 “The rock is bad. Be very careful.
If you like we can hv a videocall or meet to talk about it.”  

OK…even more intrigued now… So hastily agreed to meet up. We were in for a pleasant surprise, think: a fully fledged setup in his Office with a projector and drone footage of the whole line booted up. Thank you Simon! 

About a week later we were on the ferry on a breezy sunny day. The plan? Rap down the top anchor on an 80m single strand as far as it would go, then continue down the rest of the route on a doubled-up 60m, pitch by pitch.

I had scouted the area a couple of years back while trekking around Gozo, so had a pretty good idea where to find it. No time wasted there. Looking out over the cliffs (from Ta’ Seguna in the direction of Ta’ Ċenċ) you can easily spot the entire line: a beautiful meander following an obvious crack almost all the way up the arete.

We stepped down over the edge of the cliff to get to a small hidden ledge where we stuffed our sack, set up the rope at the top anchor (easily accessible) and started our way down. 

At the bottom of the White Groove (P4) we decided to set up the 60m and abseiled down the traverse pitch (P3), then repeated the process to abb down from R2 to R1. Going down P2, at first I was surprised by how chossy it was, then surprised that I’d reached the end of my rope with the anchor not yet visible… I scrambled around to see if I could set up a natural anchor (I had some nuts and a couple of cams just in case). Nothing that I’d willingly trust to abseil off, shouted up in hopes Matthias would hear me, but to no avail. “There’s no phone reception down there”, a fair warning Simon had given us, which by now could not be more apt. So I climbed back up, taking in slack where/when possible, until I was in earsight and my buddy kindly put me on guide mode. 

By this time, we were in direct scorching sun, but we figured we’re not gonna give up so easily. So I lowered Matthias down to the R1 anchor on one strand, set up a biner block and made my way down hoping we’d have enough cords and slings to pull the short end of the rope down. Despite extending with a cordelette and a couple of long slings Matthias was still nowhere in sight. With a lot of friable phallic-looking limestone all around the choss pile that is Pitch 2, I got really worried we’d be screwed when we’d pull down the rope and either the biner or soft gear would get entangled up in some of the esoteric rock formations… Ending up ropeless 30m above the sea, on very sketchy rock, was not on our cards that day…so within earsight we agreed to bail and call it a day. After a second go at an impromptu top rope solo up most of P2, I was quite exhausted and Matthias was eager to get climbing so he led up P3 & P4, whilst I did P5. Up at the top we made a cuppa tea and took notes of the pitch lengths. We figured P2 was around 40-45m and all the rest were around 30 or less.  

Two weeks later we were back, armed with a 3rd rope, alpine draws (I’d say you need at least 6 for the traverse pitch) and a lot of stoke. Our plan was to rap down the top pitch from R5 to R4 on doubled up 60m rope, then an 80m fixed line would get us from R4 to R2 and the 60m from R2 to R0. We’d then use a 50m to climb all the way up and retrieve the ropes on our way up. We could have doubled up the 80m and just used that to rap down pitch by pitch, but we wanted to get down to the bottom (and climbing) as fast as possible. We got down to R3, a comfortable ledge-with-a-view for 2 people, so far so good. The abseil down P3 is over a lip with marvelous views of the surrounding cliffs and crystal turquoise sea below down. As expected, reached R2 with a few metres to spare and called my buddy down. 

We set up the 80m at R2 and started heading down, getting flashbacks of the impromptu TRS along the way. This time round, everything went according to plan, reached R1 (2 bolts) and continued past it down to R0 (2 bolts) a couple of metres above sea level. (Rest of the stations are all Titan sets with an abseil ring). On the way down, we tried to clean as many loose rocks as we could (though we soon lost count!). Anyways, my buddy started to make his way down whilst I tied in to the 50m, and enjoyed the surroundings. We decided to swap the previous time’s leads, meaning I’d do 3 & 4 and Matthias would do 1, 2, & 5, with a lot of neat rope management along the way.

And so we were off on part 2 of our little adventure. Matthias, barefoot as always (with a pair of shoes mockingly clipped to his harness that he’d sooner throw away than actually use), headed up Pitch 1, a beautiful corner on immaculate rock with a decent crack to follow up. Easy work for him, though it is the hardest of all 5 pitches, with the crux being about half way up when the rock starts turning into gravelly golden white limestone. Still in shade, so we’re in good time. He tugged on the rope to signal he’s done and safe, and I swiftly followed up, though I did get a nice forearm pump at the crux, a fine introduction to the route. This pitch is maybe just a bit over 20m. R1 is a comfortable ledge with an immaculate view.  We swapped coils, had some water and Matthias set off up the choss pile.

Dust, limesand(?), and (small) rocks hailed down throughout. The pitter-patter of falling debris was a constant soundtrack amidst the waves. It’s quite easy to shelter under a small ledge just above you…tucked away in the shade… while your buddy is smoking in a scorching cocktail of dust, sweat, and fear. Every handhold they pull on, might, and some definitely will, detach without warning, sending more confetti down your way. You’ll for sure get dust in your eyes, nostrils and basically every other orifice. Fun! We used almost all the 50m for this pitch, if you abseil down direct it’s 40m but on lead it goes to about 45m. Matthias let me know through borrowed walkie talkies (thank you Alex Role!) that I’m on belay and I headed up. I can’t help but wonder how the hell Stevie Haston led this on pretty much zero (solid) placements? Don’t worry if you’re not into sketchy trad lines, it’s all safe and very well bolted now thanks to Simon and Pierpaolo Cirrottola. 

Short water break at R2 (small ledge), and I headed up to attempt the traverse pitch whilst also hauling one end of the 80m rope. Rock quality gets better the higher you go on this one, and is best at the most crucial traverse part. For this pitch I’d say you need to place around 5-6 extendibles tactically if you want to avoid a lot of drag whilst making sure the rope is not getting snagged in between some of the butting rocks. A thoroughly enjoyable pitch, there’s a point where you have to step over into the unknown on pretty good jugs whilst you can see the sea 100m directly below you. By this point in the climb, if you ain’t got sore knuckles, you haven’t been checking for loose or hollow rocks enough!!! You’ll reach R3 by traversing around or underneath a small corner. The traverse on lead is around 30m, but maybe 20-25m when you rap down direct.

Matthias swiftly followed up, a short chat and another water break, and I was off again… up The White Groove… a marvelous ~32m climb where you can practice all kinds of moves on semi-decent, but surprisingly solid, weathered white coralline limestone. Probably my favourite pitch, with the traverse pitch in close second. Matthias begs to differ that P1 is the best, but he does like harder routes more than I do. By this point we’d been in the sun since P2 so we were making good speed to get to the top quickly. At R4, I pulled up both of the rap ropes, then belayed Matthias up to me. We cleaned the garbage that tends to fly off over the top of the cliff, then Matthias set off to top out.

Pitch 5 starts off as an easy scramble but finishes off in a pretty neat steep section on good jugs (some feel a bit suspect). This pitch is maybe 20-25m at most, and is the only pitch where you can see your partner going up throughout. We topped out just before 4pm, having started going down at 1030am… we took our time enjoying the views! It ain’t a perfect day without a swim at Mgarr ix-Xini and a cold pint at the local brewery. All’s well that ends well, a lovely little adventure indeed.  

As for final thoughts, our first time on the route left us wondering what the hell that Maverick Stevie was thinking when he decided this line would go. But by the end of our second go, the route had grown on us. It’s a marvelous adventure route with easy climbing, surreal views, and a symphony of birdsong that follows you all the way up. It’s chossy, messy but a special one in our books. As good as adventure routes can get in Malta! Just beware of loose rocks and be mindful of your partner when on lead or abseiling down. 

Pitch 5 20-25m

Pitch 4 32m (the White Groove)

Pitch 3 30m (the Traverse) 

Pitch 2 45m (the notorious “Chute” Choss Pile)

Pitch 1 20-25m

Comments on equipment:

2 prussiks, some alpine draws, helmets, tons of rope!