Erden Eruc is about to leave Seattle to climb Aconcagua, but he won’t reach the 22,841-foot summit for over a year. Eruc is planning to ride a bike from Seattle to Miami, towing a cart with all of his climbing gear. From Florida, he will climb aboard an ocean-going rowing vessel and row to Ecuador, passing through the Panama Canal. Then it’s back on the bike to ride to the base of Aconcauga in Argentina. If all goes well, he will summit the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere in January 2006.

The Aconcagua climb is the second phase of Eruc’s seven-year bid to summit the highest peaks on six continents entirely by human power. He was inspired by a friend, the late Göran Kropp, who once bicycled from Sweden to climb Mount Everest. In 2003, Eruc rode his bike from Seattle to Alaska, walked to the base of Denali, climbed North America’s highest peak, and then rode home.

See www.around-n-over.org for more about Eruc’s advntures.