Have you ever considered hauling your body up a rock, constantly repositioning and adapting it according to the rock formation in order to balance it until you reach the top?
One million people in Europe have. They are rock climbers.
In Malta, where about 1,300 climbs have been discovered, the Malta Rock Climbing Club (MRCC) has about 35 members. The MRCC's Andrew Warrington said there was so much rock in Malta that new climbs were continuously being discovered.
The club, together with Special Interest Travel Ltd and rock climbing equipment company Petzl, are trying to organise a Rock Climbing Festival in Malta in October next year.
Petzl holds such festivals in "new" destinations, introducing such places to enthusiasts who might otherwise not have visited.
This was one way of putting a country on the rock-climbing map while organising an event of substantial interest bringing over big names in the rock-climbing world.
Petzl representative Erwan Le Lann, who was in Malta recently to study the possibility of holding the festival, said such an event would attract climbers from all over the world.
Such festivals are usually attended by hundreds of people. During the festival, professional climbers would have three days to work out a route they would be given.
Although the main activity would be climbing, the participants would also have free time to do what they want and a party atmosphere would be created in the evenings. Special Malta events would be incorporated in the trip.
He said climbers tended to like to travel to new destinations in order to climb and the more diverse the experience, the more stimulated and motivated they felt. They usually used all their holidays for climbing.
Mr Warrington said many people unfortunately mistook rock climbing for abseiling. But they were not the same thing. While in abseiling one descended from a high spot, in rock climbing one used one's body to haul oneself up a rock, cliff or building.
He said the MRCC was "equipping" 500 of Malta's 1,300 discovered climbs. The equipment is being financed by the Malta Tourism Authority and all 500 climbs would be fully equipped by summer. A guide on the climbs of Malta is also being published for distribution abroad.
Having a selection of pre-equipped and non-equipped climbs put Malta, which could easily be advertised as a climbing destination, at an advantage. And in addition to having a choice of equipped and wilderness climbs, all grades of climbs - from really easy to extremely hard - were available.
Moreover, rock climbing in Malta was a year-round activity with climbers looking for shade in summer and for the sun in winter.
Jan Karl Farrugia, from Special Interest Travel, said the Mediterranean was full of climbing destinations but the people were always looking for something new. Rock climbing in Malta could easily generate an additional 20,000 to 30,000 tourists a year, he said.