Wellington, Apr. 2 (ANI): An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had heart surgery four times is heading to Mount Everest to try for a third ascent of the world's highest peak.
Yuichiro Miura would become the oldest person to reach the top if he succeeds.
Miura climbed to the summit of the 8850 m mountain in 2003 and 2008. He skied down Everest from an altitude of 8000 m in 1970, reports Stuff.co.nz.
Miura has skied down the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, and is merely following family tradition. His late father, Keizo Miura, skied down Europe's Mont Blanc at the age of 99.
Miura and a nine-person team will climb up the standard southeast ridge route, pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they became the first people to reach the summit in May 1953.
Miura said the record is not so important for him, as it is to get to the top.
A doctor specialising in heart ailments is in the team to keep an eye on Miura's health. The group hopes to summit in May.
His next dream is to ski down Cho Oyu, the world's sixth highest mountain at 8201m, also in the Himalayas.
About 4000 climbers have been to the top of Everest and about 240 people have died on its slopes.
The record for the oldest person to climb the mountain is held by Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who reached the summit at the age of 76, in 2008. (ANI)
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