Turned away by an ice storm 1000 feet from the summit in August 2005, Erik and long-time climbing partner, Charley Mace, returned to Mt. Kenya a year later to reclaim the missed summit. This time their team was fortified by Hans Florine, and determined to reach Kenya's twin summits via one of the most difficult routes up the north face; the (5.11 A1) rated Northeast pillar. Hans, who led Erik on The Nose of El Capitan back in 1996, is arguably the Speed climbing guru of all-time, so he was a huge asset. After trekking 2 days to Shipton's Hut at 14,000 feet, the team had to wait out a 3-day snow storm. Eventually the weather broke, the icy ropes thawed, and under a bright sun they moved 2000 feet up the northeast pillar to Nelion, at 17,020 feet. They began at 5:30 a.m. and reached the top at 10:00 p.m., soaked from the melting ice and snow. They huddled together in an existing hut the size of a coffin, uncomfortable but at least marginally warmer. Waiting until the sun spread its morning warmth, they then rappelled down 300 feet to The Gates of the Mist, traversed across a knife-edge ridge, and then climbed two pitches to Bation, at 17,057 feet, followed by a very convoluted rappel back down. With 3 days still remaining -- surprise, surprise -- they found 3 more faces to climb before finally calling it quits.

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