November 2001, just after 9/11, I took off for 23 days to Peru to hike 40 km in the Andes to Machu Picchu, followed by a 80 km trek around Mount Auzangate in the Cordillera Vilcanota, and an attempted summit of 19,029’ (5800m) Nevado Maria Huamantilla. Bad weather and zero visibility just below the summit shut us down.

In 2005 I decided to attempt to climb Mount Aconcagua, 22,856’ (6,962m) in Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas. Even after many months of training, I had no idea if I was up to such a lofty match, but I had to find out. January 3rd, 2006 I flew to Mendoza to join my team.

After nearly getting shut-down with knee pain on the long 50 km march-in, and then at 22,000’ ‘hitting the wall’ desperately out of calories, I somehow squeaked in a summit at 4:15 pm January 23rd 2006. I finally knew what it felt like to reach the top. It was a very extraordinary feeling. March 2006 I joined some friends for a week of hiking Bryce Canyon in Utah. In September my good friend Gilles Barbot invited me to join him and a small group to do a 4 day challenge in Bretagne, France. Being so close, I headed down to Chamonix afterwards to climb Mont Blanc.