Oldest Man To Climb Mount Everest

Yuichiro Miura, a Japanese mountaineer, became the oldest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest at the age of 80, and, while the climb up was difficult, Miura said the Mt. Everest expedition nearly killed him.

Miura had previously scaled Mount Everest two other times, at the age of 70 and five years late at the age of 75, and he returned to the mountain last week to climb the 29,035 feet needed to reach the peak. After conquering Mt. Everest for a third time, Miura promised to take it easy after the descent nearly cost him his life.

Miura began his descent of Mt. Everest on May 23 and, speaking at a press conference at Clark Memorial International High School in Tokyo, described the incredible trip to Everest. Miura said he was incredibly weak after reaching the summit, soon losing strength in his legs, saying, “I could not move at all.” Miura was helped by his son, Gota, an experienced mountaineer who has scaled Mt. Everest twice, and a team of experienced climbers throughout his journey.

Miura took a necessary break at base camp, eating food and drinking water to help regain his lost strength, and continued to hike two-and-a-half hours to the team’s base camp located at 26,247 feet. Unlike the expeditions before, this Everest Base Camp tour is even more dangerous. Gota said of his father, “He just wouldn't give up.”

Miura's achievement eclipses that of a Nepali man who climbed Everest at age 76 in 2008. Meanwhile, Miura's 81-year-old rival, Nepalese climber Min Bahadur Sherchan, was at Everest's base camp preparing to attempt to regain his title as the oldest to conquer the mountain. Sherchan held the record for five years until Miura snatched the title. "I hope his success is good news. I wish him best of luck," Miura said in Japanese, with his son Gota, 43, serving as his interpreter.

Miura became famous when he was a young man as a daredevil speed skier. He skied down Everest's South Col in 1970, using a parachute to brake his descent. The feat was captured in the Oscar-winning 1975 documentary, THE MAN WHO SKIED DOWN EVEREST. He has also skied down Mt. Fuji.

It wasn't until Miura was 70, however, that he first climbed to the top of Everest. When he summited again at 75, he claimed to be the only man to accomplish the feat twice in his 70s. After that, he said he was determined to climb again at age 80.