Calling Seattleite Erden (air-den) Eruç an extreme athlete is a bit of an understatement. His quest to circumnavigate the globe via foot, bike and ocean-going rowboat – attempting six of the Seven Summits while he’s at it – is setting the bar of adventure and athleticism quite high.
Just how high? Well, between February and August of 2003, the 43-year-old Turkish native, rode his bike from Seattle to Alaska, climbed Denali and made a pit stop in Homer, Ala., to get married before riding home, logging nearly 6,000 in the saddle. Then, on Christmas Day, 2004, he pedaled into Miami after an 82-day, 4,000-mile ride from Seattle. And that’s only a small taste of what’s still to come.
Since returning from Miami, Eruç’s been spending a lot of time at Seattle’s Pocock Rowing Center prepping for the next stage: his first of four open-ocean rows – a 1,797-mile (as the crow flies) solo jaunt that will take him from Miami, out around Cuba, through the Panama Canal and on to Ecuador where he’ll swap boat for bike and ride 2,350 miles to Argentina to scale 22,841-foot-tall Aconcagua.
Eruç also recently met with a team of oceanographers that are helping him design the route to Ecuador.
“I need to have up-to-date information on the currents and winds, otherwise I could yo-yo all my life out there and never get anywhere,” he said.
But it is hard to imagine a guy like Eruç yo-yoing about, going nowhere fast. The former engineer and IT consultant dreamed up his quest in 1997, when, bored at work one day, he started tracing out a route on a world map that hung in his office.
Then he met and befriended a man who would become his role model – Swedish adventurer, Göran Kropp, who had already ridden his bike from Sweden to Mount Everest, soloed the peak without supplemental oxygen, and then pedaled home. The two shared their dreams of adventurous trips and promised to climb together soon. It was Kropp who encouraged Eruç to pursue his dream.
Then, on their first climbing trip together at Frenchman Coulee near Vantage, Wash., Kropp fell and Eruç watched in horror as piece after piece of protection ripped out. Kropp died of his injuries. To honor his friend’s sprit of adventure, Eruç added the summit attempts to his circumnavigation as the accident shocked him
into action.
“That [the accident] killed the drone in me,” he said. “I had a choice to hide in the corner or come out swinging.”
And swinging he did. In addition to the nearly 10,000 miles he’s already covered, Eruç’s journey still has about 40,000 more miles to go. The itinerary includes rowing an incredible 8,000 miles across the open Pacific Ocean from Ecuador to Irian Jaya; bicycling to Nepal from India and climbing Everest; rowing to Africa to knock off Kilimanjaro; climbing Mount Elbruz in Russia, then rowing across the Atlantic Ocean to the east coast of the United States, where – in 2011 – he’ll bicycle back home to Seattle.
Along the way, Eruç – representing his non-profit Around-n-Over – will work to inspire youth to set and carry out lofty goals and to turn off the MTV and move their body.
Eruç significantly downsized his life in order to quit his job and dedicate all of his energy and time to his trip. With the help of some local sponsors, including REI (where he once worked), Outdoor Research, Marmot and others, and a great deal of business sense and moral support from his wife, Nancy, he has been able to pedal, climb and row on.
For more information, maps, photos and written accounts of Eruç’s Six Summit project or to donate to his non-profit foundation, visit www.around-n-over.org.
- Michael Oliver lives and writes in Portland, Ore., where he also teaches writing and outdoor education at Mount Hood Community College.
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