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Everest record for 71-year-old
29/05/2007 10:40 - (SA)
Tokyo - A 71-year-old Japanese mountain climber has become the oldest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, a news report said on Tuesday.
Katsusuke Yanagisawa was 71 years, two months and two days old when he reached the 8 850m peak on May 22, Kyodo News agency reported.
He beat the previous record set last year by another Japanese climber, Takao Arayama, who was aged 70 years, seven months and 13 days, Kyodo said.
Yanagisawa, a retired junior high school teacher from central Japan, left a camp in the Chinese-controlled Tibetan autonomous region on April 8 to begin scaling the peak, the report said. He was part of a New Zealand climbing expedition, according to Kyodo.
"I feel relieved. Thanks to my partners, I was able to set a record as the oldest climber," Yanagisawa told Kyodo on Tuesday from Nepal's capital, Katmandu.
Yanagisawa was the third Japanese in recent years to set a record as the oldest climber on Everest. In 2003, Yuichiro Miura became the oldest to reach the summit at 70 years, seven months and 10 days.
Miura said in a recent interview that he plans to scale Everest again next year, at age 75.
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