After two and a half weeks of breathing thin air, eating yak burgers, drinking hot Tang and enduring stretches of -20 degrees, two adventurers from Steinbach can now say they have climbed Mera Peak.

Over the years, David Banman has climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Russia and Aconcagua in Argentina. He has also completed smaller climbs around Canada and the United States. But Banman says he wanted his next climb to be a big one and that is why he chose the Himalayas.

"The scope and scale of the Himalayas is just like nothing in the world," says Banman. "We sometimes think we have big mountains here, we have the Rockies and they are fourteen thousand feet, but these mountains are twice that size."

Mera Peak stands at 21,500 feet in Nepal. Banman was joined by Mike Fast of Steinbach (right inset). He says mountaineers will usually take between two and a half and four weeks to climb Mera Peak. The Steinbach climbers gave themselves a one week head start by taking a helicopter over the first pass and began at around 11,500 feet.

Banman says they were part of a group of nine climbers from around the world. He says you never know who will show up, which makes that one of the most interesting parts of these trips. And, depending on what region of the world you might be climbing, he says the menu can be quite diverse. In addition to the two men from Steinbach, the group included climbers from Texas and New York with backgrounds in law and marathon running.

"We ate some very interesting things along the way," says Banman. "I had a yak steak and yak burger along the way."

But he says the higher you climb, the less meat you consume; partially because it is difficult to get meat at those elevations but also because it is tougher for the stomach to process. Banman says they ate a lot of carbs, including pasta and a lot of sugar.

"Mountaineers eat terribly," he says. "Tonnes of candy bars, what we drank along the way was hot Tang, believe it or not."

Banman says they could not have asked for better weather. Just three days before they started climbing, winds were reaching 40 kilometres per hour. And, he says for one week after they finished, wind gusts hit 50 kilometres per hour. But he says summit day was picture perfect.

Their wake-up call on summit day came at 1 am and 90 minutes later they were climbing. Banman says they were expecting temperatures of -20 degrees and wind speeds of 40 kilometres per day for their last day of trekking upwards. But he says those wind speeds never materialized and before too long they were able to shed layers and climb with short sleeves.

Hour after hour, the climbers placed one boot in front of the other and slowly made their way up the mountain. Banman says at 20,000 feet, it feels like you are breathing out of a straw. At that point, the pace is so slow that he says it is mentally tough.

When they reached about 20,700 feet, a couple of the climbers, including Fast, turned around. By then, Fast had already set a personal elevation record.

"Mike did great, I mean it was his first time at altitude I think over eleven thousand feet," notes Banman. "I think maybe he's got the bug now."

(David Banman atop Mera Peak. Mount Everest is under his right arm.)At that point, there were four climbers left, including Banman. From there it took two hours to reach the summit. But Banman says that last stretch was the most difficult part of the whole climb. One of the four climbers was very experienced and decided to climb the stretch unroped.

"If you fell there was about a fifteen-foot crevasse at the bottom of the hill and you would have fallen right in and never come back," shares Banman. "You've got to really work with yourself to make sure every step is solid."

Banman says during those last two hours the pace was so slow that there was almost too much time to think. He says you need to climb as slow as possible in order for your body to normalize, but he says that is extremely difficult from a mental standpoint. He says sometimes you need to distract yourself and think of something other than mountain climbing, while at the same time making sure every step is firm. It was during those minutes that he drew on his past experience and the hours and hours of training leading up to this day.

It took nine and a half hours of climbing that day, but the four climbers eventually reached the summit.

"Getting to the top to see five of the six tallest mountains in the world laid out right in front of you was just incredible," he says.

By comparison, Banman says this is probably his favourite climb he has ever done. He credits that partially to the beauty of the mountain, including lush rainforest, rivers and streams but also because of how mysterious and exotic the country of Nepal is. He says Nepali are very spiritual people. Their religion is a combination of Hinduism and Buddhism and Banman says even along the trail you will see people stop to meditate and pray.

So what's next for Banman? 

"I wasn't sure if I was going to do any more after this one," he admits. "But we all had such a good time that maybe we're already talking about doing something else."

He hints that maybe they will try something closer to home like Ecuador in South America.