Just got back from filming in the Grampians for Smitten.
My mate James Kassay ended up being able to make it out to do some filming for smitten so the psyke was high.
The first day Ed (The brains behind Smitten) and myself headed up to Hollow Mountain Cave to film me climbing the Wheel Of Life.
I worked my off ass climbing in the cave for the camera and the finish result should look amazing.

The next day James arrived and we headed to Project wall to film Mana V13 and Last Action Hiro V12.
My skin was not in very good shape, I had two nasty holes in my finger tips but I knew this might be my only chance for a long time to try and get Mana done.
After a quick warm up, I pulled onto the start moves and felt good. Before I knew it I had stuck the last crux move with ease, I pulled through to grab the victory jug but I completely blew it and missed the jug. I was devastated. Biggest punt move I ave ever done in my climbing career..
I knew with the state my skin was in I would only be able to have one more attempt.
A few minutes past and I was ready to have another shot.
Again I pulled through the moves and I felt great. This time I managed not to be such a punt and I nailed the final hold. What a great Feeling.
Sending Mana meant a great deal to me and im happy and great full to be able to climb this amazing problem.

We then headed over to Zeus V13 so Ed could film James on that.
After filming James on Zeus the weather then changed for the worst and it rained like I have never seen before.
Our climbing for the trip was certainly at an end but we still had to carry on filming some intros etc, so we hung around for a few more days to get all the filming done.
We then made the big drive back to Sydney.

I have one week left until im in Europe and im really excited to get there.
So for now I have to do a little bit of work and lots of training.

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.