A journey of exploration - The North Face® is proud to introduce the 2009 Summit Series Road Trip - a unique spring festival of climbing. The first event of its kind, this 40 day road trip will combine expert performance from the world’s best athletes on famous rock routes throughout Europe and ‘approach’ days bringing climbing into the local communities.
The Summit Series Road Trip will be hosted by The North Face® athletes James Pearson and Gaz Parry. It begins on 1st April 2009 with a Climbing Festival at the Castle Climbing Wall in London, UK. Continuing through 14 countries and covering a distance of over 11,000 km, the journey will culminate on May 10th at the MelloBlocco bouldering festival in Val Masino, Italy. In each country there will be a mixture of challenging climbing, slideshows, master classes, demonstrations and press and store appearances; with 20 ‘summit’ days in classic venues climbing 20 of the best 8a routes in Europe, and 20 ‘approach’ days talking to young climbers, the public and the press.
The motivation of the road trip is to inspire and to encourage - to enable people to ‘discover’ climbing through listening to, talking with and learning from some of the best climbers in the world. Involving local schools and climbing groups the aim is to influence young people in particular - encouraging them to live the philosophy behind The North Face - to ‘never stop exploring’.
From the Peak District in the UK, James Pearson has made a name for himself on God’s own rock. By the age of 19 he was one of the UK’s brightest talents and his outstanding affinity with rock has since led him worldwide. His fervour and passion for climbing are inspiring. Gaz Parry is one of Britain’s most successful climbers and has achieved the highest levels in competition. This will be a unique opportunity to meet, to listen to and to climb with two outstanding and inspirational athletes. They will be joined in different locations by some of the world’s most renowned and respected climbers and alpinists including Cedar Wright, Daniel Woods, Matt Segal, Simone Moro, Emilio Previtali and Hervé Barmasse.
For James, “Thinking about the road trip fills me with both joy and dread. There will be some amazing moments; we will meet incredible people, we will visit stunning places and we will do some challenging climbs. But there will also be some epic times, in particular the long drives through the night with far too little sleep. One thing is for sure, it will be an experience I will never forget....".
The North Face extends an open invitation to be a part of the journey. Seize the challenge and join James and his companions at some point along the Summit Series Road Trip; it will be an experience to never forget.
To find out more about where they will be and when, or to follow their daily blogs click here
thenorthfaceeu.typepad.com/summitseriesroadtrip
www.ellis-brigham.com/thenorthface/cgi-bin/psProdSrch.cgi/Summit%20Series
