An 80-year old Japanese mountaineer has reached the summit of Mount Everest, making him the oldest man to scale the world’s highest peak.

Yuichiro Miura, who climbed Everest when he was 70 and then again at 75, reached the peak early on Thursday morning, his support team said.

He replaces Nepal‘s Min Bahadur Sherchan, who was 76 when he conquered Everest in 2008, as the record holder.

But Mr Sherchan, now 81, is set to tackle the mountain again next week.

Mr Miura began his final charge for the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) peak around 02:00 on Thursday, Japanese media reported, and arrived at the summit some seven hours later.

“I made it!” Mr Miura said, speaking to his family and supporters via satellite phone from the summit.

“I never imagined I could make it to the top of Mt Everest at age 80. This is the world’s best feeling, although I’m totally exhausted. Even at 80, I can still do quite well.”

A Nepalese mountaineering official also confirmed to the Associated Press news agency that Mr Miura had made it to the summit.

If the limit of age 80 is at the summit of Mt Everest… one can never be happier”

Yuichiro Miura

Mr Miura made the climb with three other Japanese climbers, including his son, and six Nepali Sherpas, Reuters news agency reported.

An extreme skier who once held a world speed-skiing record, Mr Miura broke his pelvis and left thigh in 2009 and has also had a number of operations on his heart.

Ahead of his climb, he said scaling Everest was about challenging his limits and honouring “the great Mother Nature”.

“If the limit of age 80 is at the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest place on earth, one can never be happier,” he wrote on his expedition website.

Source: BBC

size- �0t
 � ��� ily:”Arial”,”sans-serif”; color:#505050′>Oldest woman recorded in history: Jeanne Calment, France, died 4 August 1997 aged 122

• Oldest man recorded in history: Jiroemon Kimura, Japan, died 12 June 2013 aged 116
• Oldest living man: James McCoubrey, USA, 111
• Oldest living woman: Misao Okawa, Japan, 115
  • Source: Gerontology Research Group

In an interview on his 115th birthday, Mr Kimura said he was not sure why he was able to live so long.

“Maybe it’s all thanks to the sun above me,” he said. “I am always looking up towards the sky, that is how I am.”

Journalist Kanoko Matsuyama of Bloomberg News met Mr Kimura at his home last year.

“He said his secret to his longevity was eating light to live long,” Ms Matsuyama told the BBC.

“At the same time, his main carer and grand-daughter-in-law, Aiko, said his positivity helped him to live so long.”

Japanese woman Misao Okawa from Osaka, who is 115 years old, will most probably inherit the title of world’s oldest living person, reports say.

She is already considered the world’s oldest living woman.

Source: BBC