Eighty-year-old Yuichiro Miura became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest on Thursday, reaching the summit just four months after undergoing heart surgery for an arrhythmia.
Miura’s history with the world’s highest peak goes back to 1970, when he attempted a ski descent of the mountain, using a parachute to slow him, and ended up tumbling over 1,000 feet down the Lhotse face, an event chronicled in the Academy-Award-winning documentary . The Japanese climber first set Everest’s age record ten years ago, when he scaled the mountain at 70 years old.
“I never imagined I could make it to the top of Mt. Everest at age 80,” Miura told his support team in a phone call. “This is the world’s best feeling, although I’m totally exhausted. Even at 80, I can still do quite well.”
According to , Miura’s record may not last long: The previous record holder, 81-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan of Nepal, hopes to retake the title by climbing Everest next week.