Everest 2008: Yuichiro Miura Summits Mt. Everest at 75 Years Old

We have had two climbers, in as many days, summit Mt. Everest who are well in to their 70’s.  First came the news yesterday that Min Bahadar Surchan made a successful summit.  He just happened to be 76 years old and also the newest member of “The Oldest Person to Summit Everest” Club.  He set a new benchmark by breaking the old record set the year before–before that, yeah, it was broken in 2006, as well.  IT seems to be the new “in” thing.

Another person attempting to set the record, Yuichiro Miura, missed it by less than a year.  If Yuichiro could have summited two days ago, he could have at least had the record for a day.  That wouldn’t be the case though, and Yuichiro Miura has to accept the fact that he is only the second oldest person to ever top out on Everest.  Not a bad feat, itself.

Yuichiro Miura, who had been attempting to summit Mt. Everest with his son, had to settle with topping out with a few Sherpa friends.  His son was forced to down climb to a lower camp yesterday after showing signs of HACE.  Luckily, he is now alright and recovering while cheering on his father.

Kyodo News has the first reports of Yuichiro Miura’s successful summit, while ExplorersWeb has a special article up right now on the two septugenarians and their attempt to break the record for being the oldest person in the world on top of Mt. Everest.  Congratulations needs to go to both of these guys for helping to inspire the older generation to not give up on their dreams.

By the way, Yuichiro Miura has summited the world’s highest peak a couple of times in the past.  In 1978, Miura recieved international attention for becoming the first person to ever ski down the Lhotse Face of Everest after a successful summit.  In 2003, he once again made it to the top, and at that point, was listed as the oldest person to ever summit Mt. Everest.  Will be interesting to see if these two guys, battling for the record to be the oldest. will be back next season, as well.  That could be fun to watch as the next few years go by.  Nothing like a race to be the oldest.  I never really liked races much…