TNF Summit Series Road Trip

Hats off to The North Face for a cracking idea in the form of the TNF 2009 Summit Series Road Trip, a celebration of climbing featuring 14 countries, 40 days, 11,000 kilometres of driving and one van.


Hosted by top sponsored TNF climbers James Pearson and Gaz Parry, the idea is both to host some top climbers on famous rock routes, but also to allow locals to talk to and learn from some of the best climbers in Europe at 20 'approach days'.

The trip kicked off on 1 April with a Climbing Festival at the Castle Climbing Wall in London and will finish on 10 May at the MelloBlocco bouldering festival in Val Masino, Italy.  In each of the countries it passes through in between, there will be a mix of hallenging 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. 


It is, says The North Face, all about inspiration and encouragement in the spirit of their 'Never Stop Exploring' tag line. Climbers taking part include Cedar Wright, Daniel Woods, Matt Segal, Simone Moro, Emilio Previtali and Hervé Barmasse.

The whole thing has Peak District based James Pearson well fired up. “Thinking about the road trip fills me with both joy and dread." He says. "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 ….”.

You can follow the trip and daily blogs from the climbers at thenorthface.com/eu. So far Spain, France and Belgium have all been on the agenda... There's an open invitation to roll up at any of the approach days and talk to the climbers.

There's a full map of the trip here.