Seventy-five-year-old Japanese skier Yuichiro Miura is gearing up to become the oldest person to scale Mount Everest despite suffering from heart problems.
Melbourne, Mar.14 : Seventy-five-year-old Japanese skier Yuichiro Miura is gearing up to become the oldest person to scale Mount Everest despite suffering from heart problems.
According to his office, Miura will leave next week for the Himalayas with his son, Yuta. The pair is hoping to reach the 8848-metre-high peak from the Tibetan side on May 16.
"The hurdle is high but Lady Luck of Qomolangma is calling me," The Australian quoted Miura as saying, using Everest's Tibetan name.
"Ageing is inevitable for humans. But if you have goals in life, you should go through the physical and mental training, forget about age and embark on the challenges," he said.
If successful, Mr Miura would break the current record for Everest's oldest conqueror, set last year by another Japanese man - Katsusuke Yanagisawa, who was 71 years and two months at the time.
Miura is no stranger to the world's highest mountain and last conquered it in 2003. But since then he has undergone two heart operations.
His office said the 75-year-old's body would feel twice as old in the conditions on Mount Everest in summer due to low oxygen concentration, low pressure, severe winds and frigid temperatures.
Miura was the first person to ski down the popular South Col route of Mount Everest in 1970 by using a parachute as a brake.
When he reached the Everest summit in 2003 from the Nepalese side, he was at the time the oldest person to stand on the world's highest spot.
After his 2003 climb, Miura suffered an irregular heartbeat and other problems due to ageing and severe climbing activities.
Feats run in Miura's family. His father Keizo Miura made headlines in February 2003 when he skied down a run in the renowned Vallee Blanche area of Mont Blanc, western Europe's tallest mountain, at age 99. He died in 2006 at age 101.
ANI