Gasping for breath in thin air, watching clouds congeal on a jagged southern horizon, Elliot Boston wasted only a few moments in savoring his victory. He stood alone on the rocky peak of Aconcagua, the highest point in the Western Hemisphere, and knew he was closing in on a dream.
The 22,835-foot slab of Andean rock and ice loomed high above anything he had climbed before--half a mile above his last big climb, Mt. Elbrus in Russia.
But in mountaineering, triumph is rarely a clean emotion. Not only was this summit a mile below his ultimate goal, he still had to scramble back down the mountain before a storm rolled in. As he stood there last February, elation mingled with the fear of becoming a human Popsicle.
So went the second leg of his seven-step journey.
Boston, who lives in Newport Beach, wants to climb each continent's highest mountain--the "Seven Summits" of the world. What makes the 32-year-old investment analyst different from the 79 other people who have accomplished this task is something that should have nothing to do with climbing mountains. Boston is black.
But for a variety of reasons, the world of adventure sports is predominantly white terrain. Just page through an Outside magazine and you'll notice that most of the people climbing, skiing, kayaking, surfing or mountain biking don't look like Boston.
Which is what he wants to change.
"For me, the great American outdoors has been my way to deal with society, to see life in the bigger picture," he said. "Every one should have that opportunity."
A sixth-grade summer camp in the mountains east of San Diego inspired Boston. Now, in scaling the monster peaks, Boston hopes to do the same for kids who might not have such an experience--to lead minorities into the wildlands the way Tiger Woods has guided them onto the fairways. It's a lofty goal that requires not only physical endurance and mental resolve, says Boston, but also marketing and self-promotion.
Armed with a bachelor's degree in advertising from Chapman College, Boston has planned his off-the-mountain strategy carefully. To raise the $175,000 needed to pay for his travels to complete the seven ascents, he's seeking sponsors. Hewlett-Packard, for example, set him up with a laptop computer and satellite phone so he can file dispatches on the Internet from the mountains.
