everest summit 2013“An 80-year-old Japanese man who began the year with his fourth heart operation became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest on Thursday, a feat he called ‘the world’s best feeling’ even with an 81-year-old Nepalese climber not far behind him. Yuichiro Miura, a former extreme skier who also climbed the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak when he was 70 and 75, reached the summit at 9:05 a.m. local time, according to a Nepalese mountaineering official and Miura’s Tokyo-based support team.” (Gurubacharya, 2013)

Miura is being closely followed by Nepal’s Min Bahadur Sherchan, who is 81 years old and expects to also reach the summit in a few weeks.

These are remarkable feats for two men in their 80s. I feel fairly proud of myself when I hike up the hill from my mail box, so getting to the top of Mount Everest has got to be quite an accomplishment.

Everyday humans are discovering wider horizons and defining themselves in new ways. I decided not to expand this blog and find additional examples of older people pushing the conventional assumptions about aging, but to pause in remembrance, as they do in the tales of heroic quests.

Please, simply consider this one achievement and take a moment to celebrate it and to ponder the great potentials we all hold within.

Reference

Gurubacharya, B. Japanese man, 80, oldest to top Everest, for now. Austin American Statesman, May 23, 2013. http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/top-news/japanese-climber-80-becomes-oldest-atop-everest/nXzkr

Image

The photo was taken with a telephoto lens from an altitude of 5,550 meters (18,208 feet). It is not clear which of the climbers in the photo is Miura. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

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