Avid climbers yesterday expressed concern about the dangers of looking for geocaches in places too difficult to reach.
The climbers were speaking after the body of 17-year-old German Mike Mansholt was found only a few metres away from the location of one such geocache yesterday morning. A geocache is a box hidden in remote locations and found using a device with GPS.
The area, known as Għar Mirdum, holds one such geocache and is regarded as one of the toughest to locate, one climber, who previously managed to find the spot, told this newspaper yesterday.
The coordinates for the cache guides climbers to the entrance of a cave, where they then abseil down to reach the box hidden inside.
Geocaching is an app-based treasure hunt game developed about 16 years ago, when GPS devices became readily available to anyone with a mobile.
Those geocaching must follow a set of guidelines, including hiding the box in scenic places and ensuring the correct coordinates are shared online. While the users are responsible for making sure the box is in its place and that it contains a logbook for others to record their achievements in, there is little monitoring of where geocaches are placed, and climbers are advised to be cautious when accessing them.
“The person who places the cache must take care of it but that’s it. The app does, however, identify how difficult it is for a person to reach the box, giving the geocache a rating from one to five,” the climber said.
The geocache at Għar Mirdum, for instance, was given the highest difficulty rating of five. The climber pointed out that getting there alone was already difficult.
While noting the difficulty rating of each geocache was important, those who attempted to find the caches should also keep in mind the type of rocks in the area, he warned.
“I often climb with different people, and the texture of the rock is always a problem, especially for foreigners. They underestimate how soft our rocks can be and, very often, do not realise until it’s too late,” the climber noted.
A number of geocaches are hidden all over the island.