I'm back in the grampians again.
After a last minute decision Ed Thornhill and myself made the call to head back down to the gramps to do some more filming for the up and coming movie Smitten.
We made the 13 hour drive down from Sydney headed straight to bed and woke to a clear sky.
The first day of filming went really well and our energy is high to get some more stuff filmed tomorrow.
James Kassay from Melbourne is coming out tonight to climb on some boulders for smitten, so fingers crossed the weather holds out.

I'll be heading to Europe in just under two weeks now and I can't wait to get there.

A couple of days have passed and we are shagged.
After our day at Jessicas we headed to Crumbly. It was Phills first time at crumbly and he was well psyched. I was not feeling very well and I decided to take it easy and see how I felt later in the day.
Phill got straight into it and went to work on Genesis V13.
Genesis is a five move problem and a tricky one to climb. To climb Genisis you have to hold a tiny gaston crimp in your left hand and move super dynamically to a good pinch with your right, the thing is your right foot is locked into this horrible heel toe and it feels like you could easily snap your foot off if you fell.
After a little while of trying to figure out and commit to the crux move Phill managed to send the problem in fine style.
We then headed to Another little bouldering area near Crumbly called Project wall to try an amazing problem called Manhattan Line V12.
Manhattan Line has only had one ascent. The line was a project that Fred Nicole tried a little on his trip to Australia. Since Freds departure, the problem has seen one accent from the strong Sharik Walker. I really think this could be one of the best if not the best line in Sydney and im surprised it has not seen more attention.
Manhattan had been baking in the sun all day and the rock was spoogie but I still had a blast on the problem. I almost did the problem In a few attempts but I put a massive hole in my finger and it was time to go so ill have to go back soon and try send this beauty.

We are now back in Sydney.
After our stay in Melbourne me and Phill have given up on heading back to the Grampians for now and we made the long drive back to Sydney.
We spent 4 days in Melbourne all up and I had some really good hard days training at Bayside Rock.
We had some good times in Melbourne but it was time to get out of there and get some climbing time in on dry rock and by the looks of forecast weather in the Gramps, its going to be shit for a while longer yet, so here we are back in Sydney.

We arrived back in Sydney feeling really motivated to get some boulders done.
First stop was the Front line.
After some warm ups Phill made quick work of the classic Lohomme Obu V10. Next we headed over to Jessica's.
Jessica's is a small steep wall consisting of some really cool and short problems.
After figuring out the moves on J2, V12 Phill was looking a little tired and made the choice to stop climbing and rest for tomorrow.
I pulled on the boots and after warming up I jumped on a project that I had been trying when the temperature was much warmer and I was much weaker.
After figuring out the moves again on the project I had a shot from the ground.
I pulled onto the start holds and I felt super light and strong. I moved through the first crux moves fast and found myself on the start holds of the already established J1. I was Feeling a little gassed but I managed to climb through J1 perfectly and top out.
I am super happy with this new boulder.
I graded the new line V14 and called it A1.
The new line starts just down and to the left of J1.
You start matched on a good hold. From there you heel hook near your and move right hand back to a super tiny crimp and then left hand down to a tiny left hand side pull, make a big move up right to a good edge then reach down and left into the start under cling of J1, then drop down right hand to the other start hold of J1 and climb to the top of J1. There you have it, Classic.

On a high from sending the new line we walked over to another section of Jessica's where I had another project I had tried in the past and wanted to try again today.
Me and Phill cleaned up the problem a little and I pulled on from the start. I was feeling strong again and after a tricky top out I had done another one of my projects.
I called the new line Liquid Dreams and graded it V11, its a must do boulder of Sydney.

Tomorrow we will head to Crumbly and try our luck on some problems there.
If you read this Tim, maybe we will try The Vision project tomorrow :)

photo: Me doing the FA of A1

Over the last few weeks I have been filming with Ed Thornhill in Sydney.
Ed made the classic Australian climbing movie Comin At Ya Hyper.
Well after more than 10 years Ed is back to filming climbing.
Ed has been filming me in Sydney on some great boulders and the footage is looking great.
The movie will be called Smitten and will be staring Myself, Ben & lee cossey, zac vertrees, vince day, and lucky chance. Stay tuned for more about Smitten.

Last weekend I headed down to Nowra with my mate Tom Farrel.
We headed to Cheesdale to try our luck on long standing amazing project.
I came super close to sending the project but after a fair few burns on it I was feeling the fatigue set in and I had to admit defeat this time round.
The Project is on the right hand side of cheesedale and involves some really hard powerful climbing on small one and two finger pockets. I honestly think this route has some of the coolest holds in Nowra on it.

After Nowra I had to do a week of work then it was off to the Grampians.

My Mate Phill Schaal flew in from the US and I picked him up in Sydney.
We had a training session at the climbing gym and then hit the road for the 13 hour drive to the Gramps.
After I hell of a drive we arrived in the Grampians late at night, we set up the tents in the rain and headed straight to bed.
The first day we woke to more Rain Rain Rain.
We headed to the Kindergarten for our first day on the rock.
After a few warm ups I managed to send Point And Shoot V11 and Phill Managed to send a few classics Spanking The Monkey Bars V8 and The Nevin RuleV7.
We then headed back to camp in hope that we would have better weather in the coming days.

After a few days of waiting for the rain to stop we made the decision to head into Melbourne and wait for the rain to stop.
We are now in Melbourne at James Kassays house hiding out from this shit weather and training at his climbing gym Bayside Rock.
Bayside Rock in my opinion is the best climbing gym in Australia right now. Although we would prefer to be in the Grampians we are happy and great full to have such a great place to train while the weather is crap.

The plan is to be in the Gramps for about 3 weeks then back to Sydney for some climbing.
After a week in Sydney im going to head off to Europe for three months then after that ill be heading back to the US.

So for now fingers crossed the weather comes good for the rest of Phills time here in OZ.

Some pics that phill took: Me doing Point And Shoot V11 and a nice rainbow over Tiapan wall.

Another rainy day means no work and no climbing just blogging, training and drinking warm Milo.
A fair bit has happened since I last wrote on here so ill start from the beginning.

Last week I went out to a bouldering area in Sydney called Sunny Side.
Sunny side is a fairly new crag in Sydney and has some really good problems with potential for more but so far there is only two V14s and on V11 so not much in the lower grade range just yet.
At sunny side I wanted to try a project that started just right of the V11 Combat Wombat.
I worked on the project for two days and managed to send the project calling it One Of A Kind and grading it V14.
Although im sure the way I did the new line is V14 apparently Tom Farrell and Alan Price have been there working on the line lately and they have found another sequence using another hold that I did not see so the grade of this one could be dropped a notch in the future but time will tell.
I also went to crumbly the other week and managed to put up another first accent, I called the new line Life Changes and I graded it V11.
The new problem starts on the first hold of Abacus and then you climb left to finish up the V5 on the far left hand side of the crag. I think its set to be one of the classics of Sydney as I think it climbs unbelievably well.

Its good the cold weather is here in Australia right now, but the rain never seems to stop so it makes getting out on the rock tricky, although it is forcing me to get in the gym and train which is not such a bad thing, as ill be heading to the Grampians in a week and I have some projects and skeletons I would like to get done.

The last round of the Sydney Bouldering Series was held last weekend at the new climbing gym in Villawood.
I ended up coming second in the comp and I was happy with that.
I managed to do a few problems in the comp that I was very nervous on because of my shoulder and everything held up just fine.
All in all the comp was good and it was good to see some of my mates that I had not seen in a while.

Since the comp not a great deal has been going on. I have just been training lots and working a little.

A few good mates are flying into Sydney from the US next week, Phillip Schaal, Daniel Woods and Courtney Sanders. Ill pick them up from the airport and then we will make our way to the Grampians from there, maybe via some Sydney and bungonia bouldering on the way.

I hope the weather turns out to be good while we are in the Gramps.
I have been in the Gramps some years and the weather is perfect and other times it just will not stop raining. So this time im really hopping for good weather.
I have not been on a climbing trip to the Gramps in soooo long.
Although I have spent a fair few months there recently writing the Grampians Bouldering Guide, I did not get to climb once because I was injured, so this time im going to be frothing to climb. Although knowing my luck of late ill probably get injured or get something like clamidia and im geussing there is not to much information on climbing injury forums on how best to treat clamidia hahahaha.

Photos:
Me on the FA of One Of A Kind V14 and Rain In Sydney