Climber Jonny Copp's "Border Country" Set to Music

Last June, alpinists Jonny Copp and Micah Dash along with cameraman Wade Johnson died in an avalanche while attempting the first ascent of the daunting South Face of 22,368-foot Mount Edgar in the remote Gongga Shan massif in the Chinese province of Sichuan. Jonny, a 35-year-old all-around climber, writer, poet, and philosopher of life, had a sensitive and modest side that is common in so many adventurers humbled by the natural world.

A few days before his death in China, Jonny Copp penned a last poignant entry in his journal--a poem he entitled Border Country. Now that poem has been set to music and recorded by Tres Altman and the Paper Stars.

Click on this link to the Paper Stars album and listen to a sample from the song Border Country. Better yet you can purchase the entire album for a nominal cost. All the proceeds benefit The Jonny Copp Foundation. It's a win-win situation. You get some great music by a great climber and writer and you help the foundation.

This is what Tres Altman wrote about Jonny Copp: "One cannot say enough about the legend of Jonny Copp. He was and is one of the great spirits of our time. A true friend, an adventurer, poet, musician, climber, philosopher, a pioneer in every way. He is missed daily by those who knew and loved him. It has been an honor for me to put music to the final words written in his journal. The intuitive precision of his soul, the unflinching courage to do what had to be done, to face into his dream, into the mountain that would claim his body, into the depth of the life he worked daily to create. I did not change one word of his self-titled and final poem Border Country, I only repeated certain lines for emphasis. I hope you will take in the magnitude of this collaboration and feel in it the respect and admiration I had and will always have for my (OUR) dearly departed friend. He is with us in spirit...always and forever."

Here is Jonny's poem Border Country:

Here it comes to take me down, take me down with a thunderin' sound.
Here she comes with arms spread wide, calling me back from border country.
Inch by inch, step by step, shadows are runnin' in both directions.
Cowerin' down from the echoing sounds bring us face to face.
Tighten my boots, make a run, turn to see that my thoughts untied, standing still in the blazing sun, nowhere to hide in Border Country.
Grabbin' at the earth, holding on tight, wishin' for my momma and my sweetheart's delight.
Pull out a pennywhistle, let the old man dance, buying my ticket outta border country.

Photographs above: Jonny Copp collects wildflowers in Colorado. Jonny with his trademark floppy hat. Photographs courtesy Jeremy Collins and Jonny Copp.

Read more about Jonny Copp and Micah Dash:

Letter to Jonny Copp from Jeremy Collins

Jonny Copp Found on Mount Edgar

Three American Climbers Missing in China

Micah Dash Search Suspended