CRANBERRY TWP — From the time he was a small boy, John Mueller had a yearning to climb.

“It’s always been there,” the Cranberry Township resident said. “I grew up in the North Hills and was always in my parents’ backyard, getting up in the trees.

“That feeling never left me.”

Mueller, 34, recently fed that feeling by climbing to the summit of Mount Whitney in Lone Pine, Calif., the highest point in the continental United States.

He played soccer for four years at North Catholic High School and still dabbles in indoor recreation leagues on occasion.

Mueller got the yearning to mountain climb in 2008, when Alan Hobson — who had climbed Mount Everest — was guest speaker at a sales meeting he attended.

“Shortly after that, John Levey, one of my best friends, watched a documentary on Everest,” he said. “He called me up and said, ‘you want to do this?’

“My original plan was to climb Mount Rainier with John in August of 2013, but I injured a knee playing soccer and had to bail out.

“That’s one of the reasons I stopped playing soccer while training for Mount Whitney,” Mueller added.

Levey and Mueller have been friends since elementary school.

The former went ahead with the Mount Rainier climb, but admitted scaling Mount Whitney “was a much tougher challenge,” Mueller said.

The pair had to carry all of their supplies — tent, sleeping bag and food included — with them during the three-day climb.

“There was probably 60 to 65 pounds on our back,” Mueller said.

The duo flew out of Pittsburgh March 1 — the morning of a big snow — and landed in Las Vegas. They drove through Death Valley to get to Lone Pine.

“Within hours, we went from dealing with snow to being in the desert,” Mueller said.

Their guide for the Mount Whitney climb was Kurt Wedberg, a seasoned veteran who has scaled the top seven summits in the world.

“He was the real deal,” Mueller declared.

And he was needed.

The climb began at 8,000 feet. The first day’s hike took six hours to get to 10,000 feet. After setting up camp, they woke up at 3:30 a.m. to begin the climb to the 12,000-feet summit.

“We lucked out with no precipitation, but the wind was rough toward the top of the mountain,” Mueller said. “Kurt took the brunt of it by leading the pack and we all appreciated that.

“But it was colder than I expected. That first night inside the tent ... There was snow on my sleeping bag, probably about 20 degrees. I wasn’t expecting that. To get up the final notch to the top, we had to do it roped up to a line. I had never done that before.”

Because they began the final ascent so early in the morning, they were able to see the sunrise hit the mountain, “which was incredible,” Mueller said.

“The second day was rough. Winds were 10 to 25 miles per hour and it was really steep. You lose your breath because of the altitude, too.”

But the climb was completed. As he stood on the summit, Mueller thought back to his months of training to prepare for that moment.

“We’re talking half a year of not seeing my wife and kids much,” he said. “I did a lot of cardio, worked out at the YMCA, did calistenics at a high speed, then slow down.

“I even walked back and forth in the backyard with my backpack on every chance I got.”

The final day of the climb was the descent back down the mountain. What took approximately 14 hours going up took just four to get back down.

“That’s the difference ... but it was worth it,” Mueller said.

And the climbing bug is still biting.

“I’m going to do Mount Rainier in August,” Mueller said. “That’s one I have to cross off my list.”