Sam Gullifer

I started climbing in 2016 when I started high school in year 7. As I wandered into our school's small, old school bouldering cave, little did I know how much climbing would come to shape my future. Friday afternoons is when our school's climbing club would run, but after a year of this I needed more, so I signed up for the Hardrock Youth Squad, and it was this squad that really started to shape me as a climber and my love of climbing outside.

The next stage of my climbing life saw solid lead climbing sessions surrounded by psyched, strong and inspiring people, as I started to make the more regular pilgrimage to the Grampians to climb on some of the world’s greatest rock. Since then, my love of sport climbing has been met by a love of bouldering, as I feel these two disciplines complement each other cohesively.

Currently I am 20 years old, feeling as good as I ever have on rock, still pushing myself in the realms of sport and bouldering, whilst simultaneously route setting and training indoors. Isn't climbing just the best?

THE POCKET THAT BROKE ME

"It was a route that broke me, took so much from me, I needed to go back there to close this chapter and put it all to bed."

After a decade of climbing, Sam takes on a steep 30-grade route in Nowra, NSW—but one pocket hold tears more than just skin. A rare tendon rupture with no surgical fix forces him to confront identity, loss, and the quiet fight to return. This short film is a story of injury, resilience, and the long road back to the line that broke him.