The times, they are a changing...

FA of Hippo at the Gate

Throwing down on some Southern awesomeness

Chooky on You're Eating Worms Michael

FA of Swedjen

Holy shit folks, it's winter! And it has come from nowhere... It seems like only last week that we were enjoying long hot days and longer hot nights. Could it just be that I have been working like a little worker bee and I failed to heed the signs? Or am I becoming one of those old fucks to whom the seasons fly by and everything is "remember when" this and "the youth of today" that? By christ I hope not... Anyways, it definitely is winter. How do I know this? Besides the fact that it's now May. I know, because I am sitting in a cafe, wearing a down jacket and I'm only just comfortable. Sucks huh? Well it would if there weren't a bunch of positives to go along with it. Because, winter to me is a synonym for awesomeness. Cold, dry conditions maketh the boulders feel good and stuff. It also means that there is a bit of downtime from the restaurant and this year a big stint in South Africa. It was going to be a second summer in Squamish, but the stars refused to align and therefore I'm off to Rocklands. Not just me either. I'm meeting up with two of my fav people on the planet, Sam and Lu and their new little edition, Arnold. It should be a proper adventure, featuring some amazing stone, as well as a whole new place and a wee bit of culture to boot. It's not often that I'm too fazed about doing much besides crushing when I head off on a climbing trip, but SA looks crazy fun, with everything on offer, from game parks to Table Mountain and everything in between. But, for all that, my main focus is still going to be the boulders and crushing as hard as I can... In preparation I have even been doing a little training on the plastiche as well as getting out and putting up the odd problem. There has been some great new development in the Grampians in the last couple of years, with the usual results. Find an area, clean the probs, send, let peeps know where it's at, sit back and wait, and then....... nothing. However, when a fire comes along and demolishes the Northern Grampians and all the associated areas, it means that people have to step out of their comfort zones, and perhaps even clean a thing or two of their own. It has been cool to see people visiting some areas that were established years ago, but are rarely visited. It has been even better to see people taking it upon themselves to go out and establish some quality new lines in some world class areas. To those people, I doff my cap, and say, keep up the good work...