An 80-year-old Japanese man breaks the record to become the oldest man to climb Mount Everest, Thursday, May 23.
Yuichiro Miura, 80, became the oldest man to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. Miura was accompanied by three other Japanese climbers including his 43-year-old son and six Nepali sherpas. Miura and his team took the same route as Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norway did 60 years ago.
This trek to the top of the Mount Everest is not the first time for Miura, who first climbed the Everest in 2003 and again after five years in 2008. Climbing the highest mountain thrice is in itself an achievement, given his age and medical condition. According to ABC news, Miura has undergone four heart surgeries, including one just two months ago, for the treatment of arrhythmia, an irregular rhythm of heartbeat.
"This is the best feeling in the world," Miura said, from the summit in a phone call to his family. "I never imagined I would become the oldest man to get here, at 80. There's no greater feeling in life, but I've never felt this tired either."
Miura takes the oldest climber title from Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who conquered the Mount Everest at the age of 76 in 2008. Sherchan, 81, who has matched Miura in every step, will be climbing the Everest again to break the current record.
Miura's team said that he trained for the Everest trek by climbing in Tokyo with weights tied and working out on a treadmill in a special low-oxygen room. At the peak of the Everest, which is 8,848 meters, the oxygen levels are three times lower than that at sea level.
Miura has always been adventurous. He skied down Mount Everest's South Col, which is reportedly a resting spot for climbers before reaching the peak, in his younger years. Based on his heroic act of honor, a documentary, "The Man Who Skied Down Everest," was made, which also won an Academy award in 1975. Miura has skied down all seven summits of the world when he was in his 50's. He has no plans to retire, as Miura plans to ski down the Himalayan mountain of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world, five years hence.
New records have been set and some ones broken in this climbing season at the Everest. Raha Moharrak became the first Saudi Arabian woman to conquer the Everest, last weekend. Also a 30-year-old Canadian born in Nepal, Sudarshan Gautam, became the first double amputee to reach the peak of the Everest.
