Banman and MacDonald on Mount Aconcogua in 2013(Photo by David Banman)

Two men from Steinbach are off to Russia next week to climb Mount Elbrus, the highest point in Europe. David Banman and Adam MacDonald plan to start their climb August 16th and complete their descent a week later.
    
Banman and MacDonald are no strangers to mountain climbing, having tackled Mount Aconcagua, Mount Denali, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Baker in the past three years. Banman says they have been training hard to get ready for their next adventure.

"It's a little bit hard for us on flat land to try and simulate conditions at altitude but what we've tried to do, for myself personally, is a lot of running, a lot of cardio, a good chunk of time in the gym because you'll be carrying a lot of weight up the hill. That's mostly what I've done. Adam does a lot of mountain biking and was luck enough to take a trip to the Rockies about two weeks ago so I think he's going to be well acclimatized."

Banman says the biggest challenge will be to get acclimatized to the altitude because the peak is at 19,000 feet. He notes that means they'll move slowly up the mountain over about a week. But Banman adds the descent takes only one day.
    
He says Mount Elbrus is located at the south end of Russia.

"It's kind of in an interesting spot. It's right at the very southern part of Russia on the border with

Georgia. The Middle East is right there, as well, on the eastern side is Chechnya so it's a little bit of a politically unstable area. And, with everything going on in the Ukraine as well, it'll be a bit of an interesting trip to see how things shake out there."

He adds they've been monitoring the situation and expect everything will be okay. Banman and MacDonald leave for Russia on Tuesday and plan to begin their climb on August 16th.

"We're still not quite sure how many people are coming with us. We're actually going with a Russian operation so I think we'll be the only English-speaking people there. Our guide is supposed to know English but I'm guessing there will be five or six other Russian nationals who will be climbing with us."

Banman says he's been on the Internet trying to learn a few words in Russian such as, "My socks are dirty and need to be washed" and a few other important essentials like that.

Banman and MacDonald have climbed a number of mountains in recent years. So is Everest on their list? Banman says not for him.

"With all that's gone on there, with all the human error that can go on, I think that makes it a little bit less attractive for me. A lot of times, what you'll see on the mountain, it's not necessarily the natural conditions that cause the problems. It's usually the people that are unprepared or don't really know what they're doing up there. As has been seen in the last few years over there, there have been a lot of issues with human error and bad decisions made by humans rather than respecting mother nature quite like they should be."

Banman and Macdonald will climb up the south side of Mount Elbrus and descend on the north side