Neal Mueller and Chris Gubb are trying to become the youngest people in history to ascend the world's tallest mountains on all seven continents, and they're taking the Nintendo DS with them. (They even brought DS's for their Sherpas) As Mueller and Grubb start the process of altitude acclimation in Nepal in preparation for their trek up Mt. Everest, the two took some time to answer a few questions about why they decided to bring the Nintendo DS with them on their trip.

Where did the idea for bringing the DS come from?

Chris: One of the big challenges on Everest, and more than other mountains, is that you have to sit around and practice breathing thin air to get acclimated to the high altitude and thin air.

You really have to fight boredom during that time, and we knew that would be a great way to entertain ourselves... and we especially liked the DS because it's wireless. Expeditions from all over the world will be at base camp, which is 17,800 feet high, and that will "break the ice" so to speak socially. There will be about 20 or 30 different countries represented, the Scandinavians and Eastern Europeans climb a lot.

There's only a two week window where you can summit (reach the top) and people from all over the world are there for that small window of opportunity.

We first got the idea after we can finished climbing in in Antartica, Mt. Vinson which is the tallest on that continent, and were delayed for five days at base camp to get off the camp and then we had to wait four more days for a Russian cargo plane to take us from Antartica - We'd get update on the plane every six hours, so we had nine days on the ice with nothing to do... and thought how great it would be to have a game system out there... that was in January 2005.

Neal: Yes, the Russian cargo plane was five days late and we tried to think of what we could do. We built an ice house big enough to drive a car into, played a lot of Hearts - which can really get old - and cooked extravagantly... like steak, eggs and omelets - Argentina is known for beef, and we were able to eat some but it got pretty boring. So we thought wouldn't it be so cool if we could do network gaming, I looked on the Internet as soon as we got home, and the only one that did that was the Nintendo DS, so that's when we contacted Nintendo.

What games will you be playing?

Chris: Mario Bros, Metroid, game packs of classic games and Madden - which we're probably most excited about because you link so many people.

Neal: Madden is especially cool because you can play up to 16 people... We found the game connect extremely quickly to each other, which is beautiful.

I like the Eagles and Vikings and where I was working out in Minnesota, is the same place that Randy Moss does. I would see him all the time and say hello. I'm not sure if he remembered me though.

Will the games be a bit more fun as the air gets thinner?

Chris: Do card games get more fun the more you drink? You get a little delirious waiting to get used to the air, so I'm sure seeing a little man running around the screen is going to be hilarious when you're not quite yourself.

Neal: (Laughs) Let me tell you, we got Wario Ware: Touched as one of the games. You touch the screen and blow up the balloons, among 181 other "microgames" and I'm sure that he is going to be just really funny and fun to play while we're trying to get used to the thin air.

Would you recommend a DS?

Chris: Absolutely, especially because you can link up to like eight to 16 people depending upon the game, and imagine there being a huge ice storm outside, to where you can't leave your tents but you can play wireless against each other or have fun by yourself... Most of the time you read by headlamp during those down times... it's like 10 hours of climbing and then hours of nothing to do...

How cold will it get?

Chris: It'll be up to minus 30 at night and minus 10 during the day. A few times at basecamp it can reach up to 40 degrees, if a warm patch comes in, but that's rare. Base camp is at 17.800 feet - that's where you live pretty much until we get back on June 10 to America.

Will you meet other people, cultures through DS?

Neal: Absolutely, we're bringing enough games so we can pass the DS unit around and that will be a great way to break the language barrier... besides some people don't like cards, but everyone likes video games, right?"

Do you have some questions for the mountaineer gamers? Shoot them my way super-quick and I'll try to get them out to the duo for answering. Make sure you email me your questions by Monday at the lastest, as we never know when they will be out of reach.

Exclusive: DS Heads to Everest [Kotaku]

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