Kilimanjaro? Check.
Aconcagua, Elbrus, Mt. McKinley and Mt. Everest? Check.
The "Seven Summits" are no easy task but a Rocky Hill man is inching closer to his goal of climbing all seven of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, the Hartford Courant reports.
Rohan Freeman, 43, reached the summit of Everest on May 19, becoming the first African-American man and the first Jamaican-born citizen to ascend to the top of the world's tallest peak.
"When I reached the top, I thought, 'Wow! I can't believe I made it," Freeman told the Courant. "But, then I thought, 'It doesn't count unless you get down safely."
A former track star at the University of Connecticut, Freeman said he first wanted to climb mountains in 1998, when he booked his first vacation to a winter resort.
Then in June 2002, Freeman and several friends climbed Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. He then scaled three of the other "Seven Summits," Mount McKinley in Alaska in June 2004, Mount Elbrus in Russia in June 2006 and Aconcagua in Argentina in December 2006, before he attempted to climb Mount Everest.
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So what's left? If he secures enough funding, Freeman said, he plans to climb the last two of the "Seven Summits," Vinson Massif in Antarctica and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, in early 2010.
