Adventurer and alpinist Yuichiro Miura has announced that he plans to climb to the summit of Mt Everest in 2013, at the age of 80.
Miura, the Japanese alpinist and adventurer most famous for being the man who skied down Everest in the 1970 documentary, "The Man Who Skied Down Everest," said he plans to climb the mountain from the north this time after completing two successful climbs on the south, Sankei Shimbun reported.
In 2003, at age 70, Miura became the oldest person to reach the summit of Everest. After this record was surpassed, Miura once again successfully climbed Mt Everest at the age of 75 on May 26, 2008. Late last week, he again lost the record when Nepalese Min Bahadur Sherchan produced birth certificates to prove that he was 76 when he climbed Everest last year.
In 1970, Miura skied down the Lhotse face using a parachute as drag. He skied 6,600 feet in two minutes and 20 seconds, and then fell another 1,320 feet. Eight sherpas reportedly died during the expedition.
Miura told reporters, "I'm curious to find out how far mankind can push his limits. It's now or never." Miura has announced that he will start training for Everest with successive climbs of 5,000, 6,000 and 7,000-meter peaks, Sankei reported. "I want to show that you don't have to throw away your dreams and ambitions when you hit 80. Eighty is the new 60," he said.
Miura is the son of Japanese skiing legend Keizo Miura, and father of 43-year-old freestyle skier and alpinist Gota Miura.
© Japan Today
12 Comments
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akkk1
good luck to an elder with a youthful spirit.
Juan Rodriguez
Dayum! Now, thia guy is a tough cookie!
Elbuda Mexicano
Good luck but my guess 80?? Is a ripe old age do this kind of thing.
semperfi
Well , Tamae Watanabe just completed her second run up Mt Everest - and at 73 years ( I think) is the oldest person to have climbed it twice
Tamarama
That's one big set of hairy 'nads.
annemarie08
Congrats to him if he goes ahead at the age of 80. I was 5 decades younger when I was in Japan and couldnt gather up the effort to climb Mt Fuji!! i just think its nicer to look at it (from afar or in pictures).
However, I feel sorry for the Sherpas who have to tag along on these record breaking trips. If 8 sherpas really did die during his 1970 Mt Everest escapades (it says 8 reportedly died), were their families compensated for it? I mean, this is work to the Sherpas but theyre not always cut out for it and are just doing it for the money they think theyll get paid, correct me if I`m wrong. They might not be official Sherpas.
Ranger_Miffy2
I'm sorry, but EIGHT Sherpas died to help him out in his last attempt? That's pretty extreme in itself, don't you think? How many will die for his last and next grandiose attempt?
BurakuminDes
Good luck to the old fella. Statistically most Japanese men are dead before 80 - yet this bloke is still active! My gut feeling is it is time for him to hang up the ice pick - but records are there to be broken and he wants to nab this Nepalese record so good on him if he does it!
Altruist777
Ranger_Miffy2: The accident didn't happen in his last attempt. It was in 1970 when he skiied Mt. Everest. Glacial ice on Khumbu Icefall suddenly came down and fell on the Sherpas not too far from Everest base camp. His 1970 climb won the Academy Awards for best documentary, and the accident is recorded on this film.
TorafusuTorasan
@Altruist777--Good call on the film. That has to be among the top extreme skiing footage of all time, in the scene where Miura stops sliding only a few meters from a cliff and his guaranteed demise.
A few weeks ago a bunch of climbers died on Everest. Gruesome hearing about climbers walking past the living but doomed fallen and frozen hikers. Any word whether sherpas were among the fatalities?
Waxman
Saw Mr. Muira on TV last month, looks in good shape (lot better comparing with young Japanese lads) and he even has a low oxygen chamber training room where he spends lots of time training to keep up his stamina!!! Good luck sir....
mrmalice
about the only acceptable way to get old imo ... it thought my grampa was a tuff nut still climbing on his roof to clean the chimney at 85 but this guy beats it lol, better to burn than to fade away, what's left if you can't do anything. This is hope to me really, the fact that people do that even if they're as rare, ,no even more rare than the proverbial four-leaf clover. I got a lot of catching up to do. Outer space can wait to the age of eighty if branson and his merry playboys make haste, this is hope :)