PANORAMA POINT, Neb. – Braving stiff winds and a long drive to Kimball County, Neb., a multi-cultural group of explorers scaled the highest peak in the Cornhusker State on April Fool’s Day.

They bested the 5,424-foot peak firmly ensconced in pickup trucks and mini-vans. They broke out climbing gear only after they parked close to the monument.

Cheyenne Airport is 6,250 feet high. The group descended 826 feet from the Capitol City to get to Panorama Point.

They call it going into thick air.

"This is a lot harder than it looks," said one climber, Kevin Stephens, 31, a native of Colorado now living in Denver.

Led by Troy Bettinger, 40, a native of Montana living in Denver, the group consisted of Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado natives who smoothed over linguistic differences. Trekkers were:

• James Bettinger, 37, a Colorado native living Denver.
• Stephens.
• Troy Bettinger.
• Expedition photographer Glenn Leisure, 31, a Colorado native living in Denver.
• Native guide Marvin Floyd, 48, a Nebraska native living in Centennial, Colo.
• Manus Hand, 37, Wyoming native now living in Parker, Colo. He translated the Wyoming language.
• Jim Hand, 68, a native of Wyoming living in Laramie, backup translator.
• Sharon Hand, 60, also of Laramie, "just here to watch the dog." The dog’s name is Sage.
• Benjamin Bettinger, 3, a Colorado native living in Denver. He aimed to be the youngest climber on the summit.

The group started its trek shortly after 10 a.m. with breakfast at the Little America Monastery. The group renamed the Little America Cafe in honor of the Tengboche Monastery, a traditional starting point for climbs up Mount Everest.

James Bettinger said, over a plate of biscuits and gravy, that the group had to "kind of acclimate here and then work our way down." The Wyoming natives translated the menu for the out-of-staters. Wyomingites simply read it aloud.

They also outlined the mission:

• Find the remains of explorer Andrew "Sandy" Irvine, who died on Mount Everest with George Leigh Mallory in 1924. A recent Everest trek found Mallory’s remains. Irvine’s remains still are missing. Troy Bettinger’s theory is they were blown off the mountain and could be anywhere.
• Put Ben on the Nebraska summit.
• Conduct medical experiments to discover the effects of "altitude deprivation" on climbers.

Once carboed up, they had to negotiate the souvenir trap on their way out of the monastery.

"One of the most challenging aspects of climbing is the gift shop," James said.

They got away relatively safely, with only one or two slowing to rummage through a basket of commemorative patches.

Then they headed east.

They stopped briefly at the point where Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado collide – at 41 degrees, 0 minutes and 61 seconds north latitude and 104 degrees, 3 minutes and 9 seconds west longitude.

Then they headed "into the flat zone."

You may have heard of the "death zone," the point at high altitudes where the human body begins to die. The flat zone is different. The expedition planned to study the effect of beer on climbers in the flat zone.

And they wanted to look at the effects of pneumo-viscosity (Troy Bettinger’s term), the vague but serious changes thick air can wreak on the human body.

Although they sought corporate sponsorship for the climb, they were unable to secure any.

They arrived at Panorama Point and drove through the entrance, which warned them a herd of buffalo lay ahead. Their confidence unshaken, they drove on.

Upon reaching the summit and disembarking, Troy’s red hat, which read "Leader," blew off and headed east. Stephens went after it but couldn’t run fast or far enough. They sent a van to retrieve both the hat and Stephens.

Meanwhile, back at base camp, Ben Bettinger wasn’t getting out of the mini-van. Too windy, he said, so he gave up his shot at being the youngest climber ever to crest the point.

After they posed for a group picture at the summit marker, the climbing began.

Someone brought out a large, folding aluminum ladder, several donned climbing harnesses and down a prairie hill they went.

They set up the ladder and crossed some buffalo chips. Then they tied a rope to James Bettinger, secured themselves to him and scaled the peak.

At the top they all signed the log book, located in a drawer of a sturdy metal desk.

At one point, Sharon Hand let Sage out, but the dog, a border collie mix, refused to stray far from the vehicles.

Other climbers had reached the peak before them.

One notation, made by R. Travis Canon, of Golden, Colo., on Nov. 10, 2000, said it was windy, the temperature was around 18 degrees Fahrenheit and there was freezing fog.

"I keep expecting a buffalo to come charging out of the fog," Cannon wrote.

Sunday’s crew has made similar climbs, cresting Mount Sunflower in western Kansas (near the Colorado border) in 1998.

After they climbed Panorama Point, they started the alcohol experiments, some with a well-known Mexican beer, others with various imports and domestics. Nearly everyone assisted in the experiment.

There was no sign of Irvine.