BRADENTON, Fla. -- With any luck, Steven Cecil will find himself on top of the world early next week. Or at least some 14,000 feet above the rest of us.

A Bootheel native and former Sikeston resident, Cecil will be part of the May training seminar hosted by Recreational Equipment Incorporated, REI.

The company offers three trips up the mountain; Cecil's begins with his flight out on Friday. He now lives in Bradenton, Fla.

The senior vice president for Nations Bank made the decision to tackle the Washington's 14,411-foot Mt. Rainier last year.

"I decided that I wanted to do something that I couldn't hardly picture myself doing."

He began thinking of "physical activity-type" things to do and came up with running a marathon, a 100-mile bike race and climbing a mountain.

And he planned to do them in that order, rationalizing that the first two would help prepare him for the last one.

When he found a guide company for the Washington mountain climb challenge, it shot to the forefront of his plans.

"Throughout my life, I haven't been real active," Cecil admitted.

"During high school P.E. we would have to do a mile lap ... Well, I would be about halfway when I would have stop to take a rest."

But those days are over. To prepare for his first-ever climb, Cecil has been going to the health club to work out and running regularly.

Visitors to his gym might wonder why he was working out in the gym while lugging a backpack loaded with some 50 pounds of weight.

Unlike other, higher mountains like Mt. Everest, there is no need for oxygen tanks on Mt. Rainer. But altitude sickness is still a danger to climbers, which is why the aerobic training is so important.

His week-long trip to the scenic mountain, some 1 to 2 hours from Seattle, won't be fun and games. "It's a seminar for people to learn more about mountain climbing," said Cecil.

And what better way to learn than by heading to the top.

After spending a couple of days learning climbing skills, the group will begin the climb to the top at 3 a.m., weather permitting.

The ascent takes about seven hours. The guides have a set turn-around time and if the group has not reached that point by a certain time they must turn around and head down the mountain.

"Last year, on the May trip, they didn't make it to the top," Cecil said. "I hope that doesn't happen. That would be a bummer after you work and get out there."

Though supportive, his wife, Renee, is not interested in joining her husband on the climb.

"She is a little nervous. She wants to have every minute of time I'm gone booked up so she won't have time to sit and worry about me," said Cecil.

His preparation for the trip has also included getting ready for a change in climate. Cecil said his years of growing up in Missouri let him get used to cold weather, but since his move to the Sunshine State he has had little need for cold weather clothing such as he will need next week.

He moved away from the Sikeston area in 1987 but he still has family here.

Mt. Rainier is the fifth highest mountain in the lower 48 states. The environment is so harsh and testing of one's abilities that many climbers use Rainier as a primer for bigger climbs.