Ultra Somnambulist ~ Into the Dawn

somnambulism :: noun :: sleepwalking
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from French somnambulisme, from Latin somnus ‘sleep’ + ambulare ‘to walk.’

I am not a sleepwalker, an afflicition that must be a bear to tackle. It is a fairly accurate description of what my body goes through when I travel continent to continent. Mid day I feel like I am asleep so I am a sleep talker. In the middle of the night i wake up and not one for the telly I walk around. Walking when I should be sleeping.

The flight across the Atlantic Ocean never ceases to amaze me. Just 100 year ago the concept of 8 hours in the air at 32,000 feet would never have entered into the minds of humans. When my mother came over post world war II it was in a steel ship with a trunk full of possessions. Not in a jet that flies at an altitude no life exists. We temporarily leave the tender world of blue and green below us and sail in a modern way on the jet streams of existence.

I’m here in London to introduce the WS 4 to the UK market. Cotswold’s, the retailer is hosting two slide shows, – one in Preston and the other in Covent Garden. Compared to the bucolic landscape of SW Montana London is a busy busy place. The weather has been warm and unseasonably different than what most people recall. The nce hotel I’m in is 100 years old – big massive thick wall, old school windows and no central AC. Which I like as I windows are a fine way to adjust the temperatures. Except that it is so warm it is as if I am sleeping in the tropics. Just lay out on the bed and sweat all night.

Here are some images from the El Cap climb ~ El Corazon.

I climbed with Alex Honnold. He is 23 and way strong. Sends 13 like easy street.

These guys were on Flight of the Albatross. Friends from the tribe of climbers.

Looking down the crag! This is soo much fun!

Strong Youth!

Cool Perspective….

Happy Camper…..

It was clear most of the way up. It started raining on the last afternoon. We were very wet by the time we made it to the summit.

Speaking of rain… this is Jenni in her garden. The plants love the rain…. as does Jenni.

Hope all is well……

The morning Jenni, Sam & Isaac drove me to Gallatin Field in Bozeman was a cold brisk day by Montana standards. Yet 8-inch snowfalls, temperatures below freezing are part of life above the 45th parallel. The late winter / early spring is my favorite time of year in Bozeman. The skiing is filled in, the weak layers in the snow pack from December have healed themselves, when the sun is out one can rock climb and the garden is coaxing life out of each incremental increase in sunlight. The birds sing and the kids get out the bikes and long boards. Jenni and I find time to get out after breakfast for hike, be it around the block or to one of our favorite spots.

Yet to the airport I had to go. The three weeks I will be in Malaysia climbing on Kinabalu Peak, the highest point on the island of Borneo. At 4095 M it is pretty lofty. The proximity to the equator 5-degrees north means it will be humid, with a close to 12 hour split between night and day. Our team consists of Mark Synnott, our motivated leader, Kevin Thaw as nutritionist, Jimmy Chin as the bachelor, Renan Ozturk as artist in residence, Alex Honnold as our secret weapon for all things overhanging and myself as portaledge engineer. The North Face supports the journey, and our mission is to find granite crags, cliffs and walls to climb. The motto of The North Face is to “Never Stop Exploring”, which entails finding unclimbed vertical landscapes and climbing them. Be they frozen or covered with vines thick enough for Tarzan to swing off of we’ll get after it.

The motto for our climbing team is “Strength through Unity”, which is the national saying of Malaysia, our host country. So when in Kota Kinabalu do as the Kota Kinabaluans do … be strong by being unified. Malaysia is a country of 27 million people rich in a variety of resources from tin to rubber to palm products with a strong recreation industry. This is my first visit to this wild place. I’m looking forward to meeting lots of friendly people, experiencing flora & fauna that is very different from what I am familiar with and having an adventure of the first order.

http://tnf.typepad.com/borneo/