Jeff Armentrout will think about his father as he climbs the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere this month.

The Kennesaw resident was a month away from a trip to Argentina to climb Mount Aconcagua when he learned his father, John Armentrout, had lymphoma.

He decided to use his adventure to honor his dad and raise money for the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

In recent months, Armentrout has donned plastic mountaineering boots and a 70-pound pack several times a week to train at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. He and his friend Mark McConnel of Roanoke, Va., planned to start their climb earlier this week and finish by mid-January. The almost 23,000-feet-high peak is the highest the climbers have tackled. Armentrout climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska, which is 20,320 feet, in 1990. He has also climbed 14,000-feet peaks in Colorado and New Mexico and Mount Ranier in Washington state last summer.

"My father inspired me to embrace a love of the outdoors," he said. "He's been there with me on numerous adventures."

He remembers a trip he made at 12 with his father, a geologist, to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. Jeff Armentrout said his dad's idea of hunting is a walk through a mountain forest, armed with a camera.

Armentrout, 39, said his passion for climbing flourished while he was in Colorado at the U.S. Air Force Academy. After graduation, he was on active duty in the Air Force 10 years. He is a pilot in the Air Force Reserves and works in business development at Lockheed Martin.

When Armentrout is away from work, he teaches rock climbing at his 13-year-old son Tyler's Boy Scout troop. He enjoys passing on his passion to Tyler and his 10-year-old son, Trevor.

"The whole experience of climbing makes you appreciate the basic things in life," Armentrout said.

Follow Armentrout's journey on Mount Aconcagua at www.climbforacure.org.