The North Face athletes James Pearson and Gaz Parry, with some friends, are on a European road trip. 40 days of climbing, socialising with the European climbing community, giving climbing Masterclasses and slideshows at various climbing walls, and taking in the sights and culture. They will be visiting 20 different climbing venues and climbing 20 of Europe's best 8a's. So far they have climbed Adrenochrome at Lulworth Cove, Dorset; Raindogs at Malham Cove, North Yorkshire; Abstrakt at Hylteberget, one of Sweden's first 8a's. They have now left Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark and are heading to a climbing event in Holland then on to Freyr in Belgium to climb God Save The Queen, 8a. (See also: the UKC Outdoor Industry New report The North Face 2009 Summit Series Road Trip)

We will be following their progress throughout this trip which ends on May 10th at the MelloBlocco climbing festival in Italy.

Here is the teams' first video despatch.

Video by Keith Bradbury, winner of the UKClimbing.com Film Clip Competition with his In the Handholds of Greatness

The North Face Summit Series Road Trip Map

CommunityWalk Map - Summit Series Road Trip

You can follow James and Gaz's progress at thenorthfaceeu.typepad.com/summitseriesroadtrip