Southern Stone is Here!!

Rockwarrior Films has just uploaded the Southern Stone video. This video features many of the best lines in the Southeast. The footage is energetic and exciting to watch. Anyone who wants to see a sample of the country's best sandstone should check it out. I got to help do some filming and climbing in this video. Ian, the brain behind RockWarrior Films, is a good friend of mine. Ian works hard traveling around and getting good footage so that he can edit climbing videos. The videos are entertaining and will get you psyched. You can help support Rockwarrior Films by going to this website www.rockwarriorfilms.com and purchasing this video for $10 via internet download. So when you're sitting around on the couch, scratching your ass on a rainy day, GET MOTIVATED ! Check out some serious action packed sending.

Southeast recap

Well my stint in the South is over. As expected I had a great time. As with most trips I met a lot of cool people and new friends. There was lots of beer, great food, and country living in the house in Mentone. Props to my parents for hooking us up with a place to stay. It was easy on this trip to remember that bouldering is all about staying psyched and enjoying yourself with good friends. As a roof climber my favorite place was Dayton, Tenn. That roof was sick. I left a problem behind too. The Crazy Craver v11 was in the bag...or so I thought. My last day on it was day 3 and the conditions were perfect. Every try got me closer and closer to the finish line. In the end I fell at the move to the jug 3 times that day and had to walk away empty handed. I was really excited about finishing this line but sometimes that's the way it goes. I took the failure pretty hard but in the end I had to say fuck it. It is what it is. I will return one day and send.
In case anyone was curious, here's my southeast ticklist:

The Snail v6

Little Rock City, TN             Castaway v7
                                 Tennessee Thong v7(flash)
                                 The Pinch v7
                                 Robbin the Toothfairy v9 (2nd try)
                                 The Wave v6


HP40, AL                         Short Long v7/8
                                 Five -0 v9
                                 Soopa Coola v6

Rocktown, GA                     Tractor Trailer v9
                                 The Dao v7

Zahnd, GA                        Prey Lika Mantis v10
                                 Harvest Moon v8

Citadel, AL                      Breadloaf Factory v10
                                 Ninja Camp v9
                                 The Snail v6
                                 Earl the Squirrel v6

Little River, AL                 The Engagement v7(flash)
                                 Diego Problem v8 (flash)
                                 Diego Problem left v8

Dayton, TN                       The Honeycomb v10
                                 River Dance v9 ( 3rd go)

Matt Arnold working a hard project in Mentone

Maybe not my best performance but whatev's . Currently I'm in Baton Rouge, LA hanging with my parents. Tomorrow we head to Austin, Texas to hang out with my brother, Glen, for the holidays. I may check out some of the Austin climbing areas if it works out but will most definately check out the Austin Rock Gym which is supposed to be the bomb. By January 5th I plan to land in Hueco Tanks. I'm excited about revisiting this area as it is one of my favorite bouldering spots in the country. This will be a great place to hang with the homies and climb. Can't wait.   

Southeast first half

                                                        Isaac on the Shield v12, Little Rock City

the fridge stocked with the bare essentials

Ian Cotter Brown on the Golden Harvest v10

Haley Waldrop quickly sends the Big Poppa v8

I've been on the road now for about 6 weeks. So far it has been as expected, awesome. The crew and I have been climbing at lots of great areas. We've gone to Little Rock City, Desoto State Park, Rocktown, Zahnd, Horse Pens 40 and the Citadel. There's only about 15 days left here for me, which is not nearly enough time. In the Southeast half of your trip can likely be taken out by rainy weather and poor conditions. In the 20 days I've been here I've had 8 climbing days. Maybe 4 with good conditions. These kind of odds make sending hard boulders really difficult. I wish I had tales of how I'm crushin' this and sending that. But I've really just been doing whatever I can. Perhaps I'm out of shape since it's the beginning of the trip, or maybe the grades here are more solid. I don't know. When you're used to climbing hard you feel a bit deflated when you've traveled so far to do your best only to find that you're bumbling around on moderates. Five years ago I would have been a mopey bitch about this. Now, I have a little less expectations for performance and more expectation for fun. So that has been the theme..fun. And there's lots of fun to be had out here in the south. As usual I wish that I had more time here so maybe I could do a hard boulder or two. But since I don't, good times will do.
      My friends and I have been mostly staying in Mentone, Alabama. This town holds the southern most ski area in the states. The Cloudmont Ski Resort in Alabama has one chairlift that gives skiers access to a single ski run that is 150 ft long...holy shit. Get Jeremy Jones down here now! I know ...not very impressive. But it's still cool to be staying in an Alabama ski town. This place has a great central location to all the best boulderfields in the south. We have even found great potential right in town that hopefully we'll have time to get to.
    I have been climbing with lots of great people on the trip too. We are hanging with Isaac who demonstrates every hard boulder he tries quickly and with style. We also got an opportunity to meet an Evolv athlete named Ronnie from Florida. Ronnie has a prosthetic leg. But that didn't stop him from crushing the Zahnd classic Harvest Moon v8. That was inspiring to see. We've also been climbing with Haley Waldrop. Despite being short she still crushes all the power lines in the south. It's always fun for me to climb with another short person that , ya know, feels my pain. The list of great people and good climbers goes on and on around here. I'm super psyched that I've got to hang out with all these people.
    On the video front I've been helping Ian Cotter-Brown of Rockwarrior Films get footage for his next video featuring the Southeast. There's been lots of sending going on an the video is piling up. I've been watching the editing process and the film is coming together really well so far. Keep your eye out for this one if you want to see some Southern classics.
     After all this planning I'm halfway through the Southeast part of my roadtrip. I have high hopes for better weather and more great times for the second half. As of the 20th I leave for New Orleans, Louisiana to visit my parents and go partying with old high school buds. From there I head down to Austin, Texas to chill with my brother. Eventually I'll land at the next big destination in Hueco Tanks, Texas. I am very excited for Hueco. I used to go there a lot but have not been in 5 or 6 years. It will be fun going back to all my old projects. Maybe they'll still kick my ass...but maybe not. In the meantime, the weather today is shit in the south. Heavy rain is forcasted for the next 2 days. Just in time for a much needed rest day. My psyche is being renewed as we speak.