Posts
Yuichiro Miura, who has climbed to the 'top of the world' twice before, accomplished the feat despite four heart operations.
UNCREDITED/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The 80-year-old Miura, right, and his son Gota trained for their expedition with extreme skiing.
Four heart surgeries were just an annoyance to Yuichiro Miura, who, at the age of 80, has become the oldest person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.
His achievement has eclipsed the record set in 2008 by a 76-year-old man.
AP
Yuichiro Miura reaches the top of Mount Everest for the third time in his life. He conquered the mountain at ages 70 and 75 as well.
"I made it!" Miura said over the phone on Thursday in a call to his support team in Tokyo. "I never imagined I could make it to the top of Mount Everest at age 80. This is the world's best feeling, although I'm totally exhausted. Even at 80, I can still do quite well."
AP
Miura's wife, Tomoko Miura, right, and daughter Emiri Miura, celebrate after a report that he reached the summit of Mount Everest.
That may be the definition of understatement: Miura underwent heart surgery in January for irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, his fourth heart operation since 2007, according to his family. He also fractured his pelvis and left thigh bone in a 2009 skiing accident.
UNCREDITED/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miura, left, uses oxygen mask and his son Gota sips green tea during their attempt to scale the summit of Mount Everest. They climbed the last leg of the trip, the so-called death zone, in seven hours.
Miura's trek to the top of the world's highest mountain this week was actually a three-peat. He conquered Everest when he was 70, and again at 75.
Miura was accompanied this time by his 43-year-old son, two other Japanese and six Nepali Sherpa guides. They made the final leg of the trip, climbing the so-called death zone, in seven hours.
PICASA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The 80-year-old Japanese adventurer and his son Gota leave base camp at Mount Everest.
The climber, who trains by doing extreme skiing, said on his website that the quest "is to challenge [MY]own ultimate limit. It is to honor the great Mother Nature. And if the limit of age 80 is at the summit of Mount Everest, the highest place on Earth, one can never be happier."
The previous record holder as the oldest person to reach the mountain's top was Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who accomplished it at age 76 in 2008, just a day before Miura reached the top at age 75. Sherchan, now 81, says that he is preparing to scale the peak again next week despite digestive problems.
Miura has already discussed his next venture - skiing down the Himalayan mountain of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world. He's planning if for 2018 … when he'll be 85.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first expedition to reach the summit of Everest: Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay made it to the top of the mountain May 29, 1953. More than 200 people have died in the attempt since then.