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At 80, Japanese man becomes oldest to scale Mt Everest
Five years after he last scaled Mount Everest, 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer Yuichiro Miura did it again on Thursday morning - becoming the oldest to achieve the feat. Utpal Parashar reports.
Five years after he last scaled Mount Everest, 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer Yuichiro Miura did it again on Thursday morning - becoming the oldest to achieve the feat.
“Miura reached the peak (8,848m) at 8:45am (Nepali time). As per initial reports he is stated to be doing well,” said Gyanendra Shrestha, an official of Nepal government’s mountaineering department.
He stated that all 10 members of Miura's team, including his son Gota, reached the peak without any problem and are now on their way down.
Miura wrested the record of being the oldest man to summit Everest from Nepal’s Min Bahadur Sherchan who had reached the peak in 2008 at the age of 76 - just a day before the Japanese scaled the top.
The rivalry still continues between the two. Sherchan, 81, is at present at the Everest Base Camp and preparing to take on the mountain another time and get back his record.
Miura had first scaled Everest in 2003 at the age of 70 and repeated the feat five years later. He had decided at that time to challenge the peak one more time when he turns 80.
His dream almost got shattered when he fractured his pelvis during a skiing accident in 2009 - but contrary to doctors' expectations, he got well and started training six months after the incident.
What makes Miura’s feat more praiseworthy is that he suffers from metabolic syndrome, irregular heartbeat and irregular shaking of atrium. He underwent two major operations before his 2008 attempt.
Miura’s association with Everest dates back to 1970 when he became the first person to ski down the mountain from an elevation of 8,000 metres.
In his website Miura mentions that he decided to scale the peak at such an advanced age to challenge his own “ultimate limit” and honour Mother Nature.
“If the limit of age 80 is at the summit of Everest, the highest place on Earth. One can never be happier,” he wrote.
