please allow me to introduce Crazy Tony. he’ll show up here a lot. i’m not really sure why we bestowed the “Crazy” appendage to his name but it stuck and now he even refers to himself as Crazy Tony. CT moved to Sydney from his native Czech Rep about 13 years ago and has a strong penchant for type 3 fun and pilsner. He races 24hr mountain bike races solo and qualified for the solo world champs, he climbs in the Himalayas every year (last year Ama Dablam, this year Cho Oyu), is running The North Face 100km trail run in a few weeks, and he will break trail through thorn bushes and rattlesnakes. If you need a partner through an epic slogfest, Crazy Tony is the man to call. i'm lucky to have a climbing / riding partner like CT.

Crazy Tony is a professional photographer, but i have never seen him with a camera. instead, he carries around a video camera. This video camera is like a bad rash. He’s been trying to get rid of it or destroy it ever since i’ve known him but it keeps coming back. he took it up Mt Aspiring last year taking video of the 120kmh winds, hail and tunderstorms he was climbing in. he took it all the way up the peak of that mountain. he brings it canyoning and shoves it inside his backpack it with just it’s “carrying case” (a shitty ziplock bag). he left it on a bus in Timaru last time we were in NZ and it came back! i just wish he’d take some nice pictures, cause editing video sucks.

so, Shelley and I finally got a chance to go canyoning when CT emailed me at midnight, Sat Apr 10 to ask if i wanted to go. i said yes, Tony jogged home from the pub and 8am on Sunday we started the 8hr slogfest though Butterbox Canyon in the Blue Mountains. it’s an awesome Canyon located off Mt Hay Rd in Leura, involves 8-9 abseils (one off a massive chockstone wedged between the canyon walls) and a grade 10 rockclimb to get back out.

here’s the video from CT’s famous camera. i hope you enjoy his narration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSSPZe4mO8w