On Episode 249 of the Enormocast, I connect to Europe to talk with Belgian climber, Sébastien Berthe. After making a personal choice reduce his carbon footprint by avoiding air travel, Seb made a bold and admittedly somewhat quixotic journey to climb the Dawn wall last fall/winter via sailboat. Though he and Siebe Vanhee did not free climb the Dawn Wall, Seb’s nine-month excursion shore to shore was filled with adventure, successful climbs, and personal revelation. Seb and I both fanboy on Nico Favresse a little bit, and then Seb fills us in on why Belgium creates such badass and joyful climbers. Hint: its Nico’s fault.
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Hah! Sounds like what Seb needs is a large, sturdy multihull – trimaran, preferably – and an appropriate boatbuilding sponsor; he’d average way more than 8 knots in one of those!
Did you appreciate the similarity with wall climbing? ie Don’t worry about the whole project – it’s too big to get your head around; just concentrate on the next day or two – and at some point we’ll get there! Of course a typical transatlantic crossing takes rather more days than your average El Cap route – but the principal is still a good one.
Seems like the sailor/climber crossover is deeper than I might have guessed. Lots of comments coming in about how to get the crossing done.