Using the technique of stimulated emission pumping (SEP) spectroscopy, highly excited vibration rotation states of the CH3O (X (2)E) molecule were probed up to energies of E less than or equal to 10 000 cm(-1). The highest excitation energies exceed the asymptotic H-H2CO dissociation limit of the molecule [Delta(1)H(0)(0)(H-H2CO)approximate to 6900 cm(-1)]. Work was carried out at different experimental resolutions. First, low resolution survey SEP spectra were found to exhibit persistent vibrational structure up to energies far above the dissociation limit. The observed main features were found to be assignable, in a zero-order picture that leaves aside possible mode-to-mode couplings, to the progression of the excited C-O stretch vibration states (nu(3)). The widths of the respective features correspond to localized short-time vibrational motion for times of greater than or equal to 0.3 ps (greater than or equal to 10 C-O vibrational periods). Second, in high resolution scans over the coarse vibrational features, characteristic clumps of individual vibration-rotation eigenstates were revealed. These clumps are ascribed to distinctive Franck-Condon active bright zero-order levels which are mixed with the large number of Franck-Condon inactive dark bath states. Under carefully selected conditions, the clumps could be attributed to states with defined and well known values of the total angular momentum quantum number J, which remains as a good quantum number in different coupling cases. These clump spectra will be analyzed quantitatively in the following paper with respect to their bearing for the intramolecular vibrational dynamics of highly excited CH3O (X) as a function of vibrational and rotational excitation. From the observed spectra, quantitative data can be obtained on the rate and extent of collision-free intramolecular vibrational and rovibrational energy redistribution (IVR and IRVR) processes, which would result after coherent ultrashort pulse excitation of the molecules.