Erik's quest to climb the seven summits began on June 27th, 1995 when he reached the 20,300 foot summit of North America's Highest Peak - Denali, in Alaska. He next climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro where he married his longtime sweetheart, Ellie, on the Shira plateau at 13,000 feet. In 2005, he led a second expedition to Kilimanjaro where five blind climbers from four continents reached the top. Among the team was Douglas Sidialo, who lost his sight in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi, and became the first blind African to stand on the roof of the continent. Erik has also been twice to South America's 22,800 foot Aconcagua, the first try falling 1500 feet short of the summit where his team was turned back by gail force winds. Europe's 18,500 foot Mt. Elbrus provided an added challenge for Erik, since he skied down from the summit with his ski guide, Eric Alexander, 10,000 feet from summit to base camp. He finished his quest on Australia's Mt. Kosciusko on September 25, 2002. Ironically, the wind speed on Kosciusko's summit was the highest of the seven. "It was almost impossible to drink the champagne we had brought to celebrate." Said Erik.

To launch a slideshow of this gallery, click on any of the below thumbnails. To navigate through the Slideshow, click the Previous or Next arrows.