The gift of tomorrow, by Stevie today Haston.

Good evening, welcome to the sun, infact set your controls for the heart of the sun, maybe wear sun glasses. Today I did two new routes with the help of Alex. If you guys out there want more routes you should donate something to my money button at the top of my page, its marked Donation or something obvious like that. I have had donations from Americans who rarely visit, and from UK, but from the Maltese its not been very much. Why is this? Donate if you can, if you climb here donate. Yesterday I was chasing lots of trail bikers off a path, it's police work, not mine. The damage they were doing was incredible!
  

 Abseiling down to do Atomic Trouser Filler only 6a but you will swear at me for sure. Will anybody ever believe this is only 6a?

That's line of Atomic Trouser filler! Its more than a line, it's a line and a half, it's the line I hated to see go, it's a song etc.

Alex looking a bit sick , and this was the less exposed one!.

Alex looking a bit perturbed on a 5+ move, it could do with a bolt more for the leader here, donate if you want a bolt. This is a three pitch great route after traffic, and me adding a bit more gear it will be class.

Why are you staring at the belay? Its bomber.

Easy ground, but steep, and impressive.

Last pitch on the easy route, it's magic, easy but magic! Behind the fat man climbing, is the crazy, but easy line of theAtomic Trouser Filler, the "Bestest" route I have done on the Maltese Islands.

Dwarf flowers here that people make fancy tea out of!

It was a very nice day, there is still work to do to make these routes enjoyable for others in stead of Atomic Trouser Fillers. Donate please.

 

Training or politics, by Stevie non political Haston.

Training is the foundation of getting better, how do you get better with out training. If you dont train you stay the same. So train.
Now to Politics. Politics are out of control, and certainly out of an individuals control, so the best thing is to buddy up for a revolution, because you aint going to change anything by voting!
Now that we are clear - train yourself. You can train to be a better person while your at it.

 Training your body is not that hard, its called work and rest!
Training you mind is a little bit tricky, gurus come in handy. Beware the false Guru!

Caroline on the around Gozo trail, 5 hours hard walking, or more each day for 5 days.

 An ancient wine press, this is Pheonician.

The sea is training the cliffs, the power is amazing on days like this, why this power is not harnessed is obviously a trick of politics and money!

 A bit of everyday litter and rubbish. This is in an EU area that is noted for birds and plants covered by protection regulation yet has a quarry, bird trappers, hunters, rubbish, and mechanised trail bikes ...

 Bird trapping season is long finished, this is not allowed now, net mesh is also not allowed no, this is catching small birds. Totally against regulations and politician turn a blind eye. These hunters and terrorise walkers and climbers bird watchers and everybody who tries to access the countryside. Train people to be nice, or nicer.

 This is not true this is government land-it just stops peoples access.

 Does anybody know what this is? Its big, big bone is 2 feet long.

Caroline and Dan finishing an around Gozo walk, how many Gozitans have done this, these two nice people are frm Calafornia.

I will put some training stuff together this year to try and motivate you and myself. This week I put a fare bit of leg work in and had three climbning sessions. Plus pull ups. Lets see.

Finger and wrist exs, by Stevie semi strong Haston.

Feeling weak? Yes, me as well!
Get strong! How?
The best way to get strong for climbing in general terms is to go climbing, most of us don't have that luxury. Climbing is also a bit tweaky on certain muscles. I myself have always had trouble with my fingers in the crimped position, and been injured many times! So some safe, or easy to regulate controlled stuff, instead of pulling on a tiny crimp in a dangerous position might be in order. Or thinking about things to maximise  your training in a short time might help. As Wolfgang Gullich said, the biggest muscle is your brain!

This is a very old school ,very, very calibrated spring loaded device that can be used to train, or measure your strength. It's used just for grip strength which you might call hand strength but here I am using it to isolate my fingers and isolate them in a crimp position.

This is what I used to do at school, and believe it or not, this worked a treat, my crimp was never as strong as when I was a kid. Never was lighter, than when I was a kid either!  I would simply make the crimp position, and crimp it a bit harder, with or without the thumb. "Bored at school" was a real risk, this simple position helped keep dreams alive.

Finger boards have really made the weekend warriors job a bit easier. Get one, wear one out, you will get strong.

Any ring work will make you strong, just hanging off them when you are fat and out of shape will get you strong. The pair of rings (above photo) are extra thick, they were extra strong because I used to use extra charge, I still love them, Ice climbers should all have a pair of thick rings! But everybody needs these! Rings also spin which means your elbow tendons don't get stuck in that horrible place that can cause chronic pain.

Unbalanced dumb bells are real fun, so is having broken toes, never train with out shoes!

Palm facing you, there is a fancy word you can use if you want for this movement. You should also do pull ups or machine pull downs, with your palms facing you and with palms facing away. Mix it up.

Palms facing away.

Try a few of these, why don't you? 

Atomic Trouser filler, by Stevie Haston.

So went climbing today, nuffing special you might be thinking. Your wrong. Malta Climbing Club gave me 15 titanium bolts so I put them to good (great ) use and created the ultimate trouser filler, its 6a, so many, very many trousers will be filled. It's an incredible savage, yet easy route, it is destined for stardom.

Give me a rope please, this rock was slowed down by hitting me on the head, but still trashed my rope!

 The Atomic Trouser filler.

 Nuffing but air!

View from the new house, it's not of the sea, but not as bad with traffic, and closer to nice swimming.

The beast is slain, by Stevie Haston.

At last got the route! With the help of Christina and Mandy we climbed the cliff in iffy weather, but with determination-we were determined to get back to the car in one piece!

This cliff is a lot of fun, its big with a big feel.

The girls getting ready, sartorial elegance aside, puffer jacket went puff and spewed a few feathers and it was really too cold for tights!

Spot Christina!I was left waiting at the bottom, I think they thought it wise to take their time and enjoy the ambiance.

A bit lower, the abseil is very spectacular!

 this photo doesn't do the surge justice, my little camera has a delay on it, but we were getting wet and the sea is 5 or 6 meters under us.

The first pitch, no bolts, trad gear mainly slings on spikes, easy but bold.

Mandy smiling when it didn't really occur to her-"for the photo". 40 meter pitch.

 Christina leaning to bridge where you are meant to -with 85 meters of air under you, it felt hard! 40 meters again. All in all a great route, Gogarth in the UK would have this as a starred route, and it would be a classic. I need to add a few bolts, and bolt the first pitch so that others will love it. The Girls need to name it, it was their first new route! Its called Ganesh in the splits- they just mailed me.

Through work comes Joy, by Stevie Haston.

Sometimes work is enjoyable! When you take 9 young kids out, it can, and nearly always causes panic in me, because I want them to love it so much, it is hard to manage.  

Weather was iffy, so more panic, I had to cancel stuff all week, I just don't want to disappoint kids. And jee, it's one of the young girls birthday.
Will you become a climber little Noelle?

"Ok girls, and one boy who has sneaked in, you will enjoy yourselves".

 Safe little kletter garden area, with sun, flowers, and lots of smiles.

There were cakes as well.

A tearful moment, quickly over, she then ran up the rest of the routes. Hard to believe the miracle that happens between fear, and joy. My fear is that they will simply not like the outside world, and climbing, but they always do!
 Special thanks go to Mandy- happy mum, and climber, Alex and Emma. Strangely we all had a great time, but were exhausted. The Big Question remains, how do heroic teachers manage big groups of kids without going mad?

Bachar belated goodbye, by Stevie Haston.

Its 10 years since Bachar died! I remember where I was when I heard the news, this isnt a joke, its just that it was an important event for me.
10 years have passed and some how his death has only hit me now. His passing came back to me a few days ago when doing a course for 10 little kiddies who were asking how safe climbing was. I had no problem saying climbing was safe, its as safe as life after all. Bachar lived to 52 years old! Bachar did incredible things that fed incredible things by climbers in the UK!
Climbing still owes a debt to Bachar. But hey kids dont be Bachar!

 For Bachar and others, stone is still sacred. To my friends who still climb, for the people who feel a tingle in their finger tips.

The new latest splash zone, I cant help feeling that Bachar would have liked it here.

 Gear, use gear and your chance of reading about others might increase! Use gear and it might be more boring too!

I still have the odd day soloing, I still love it. Will I die,? Yes of couse I will die. So before I go, I will thank now all those people who put a tingle in my finger tips, they are far too many people to mention (sadly) but Bachar is one, and I'll just mention Tony Willmot, because he was the first guy I knew who died soloing. Some of Tony's gear some how came into my clasp, and helped me stay alive!