At 80, the Japanese climber on Thursday became the oldest man on earth to step on top of Everest. Miura, along with his 43-year-old son, two other Japanese, and six Sherpas, reached the summit from the southeast ridge.[break]
At Miura’s Tokyo office, his family, including his wife and two daughters, huddled around the phone for word of his successful climb, chronicling every step on Facebook, according to agencies. When the call finally came in, the room, packed with reporters, erupted in an applause.
“This is the best feeling in the world,” Miura is quoted as telling his family from the summit on the phone. “I never imagined I would become the oldest man to get here, at 80. There’s no greater feeling in life, but I’ve never felt this tired either.”
This is Miura’s third successful attempt on Everest. But what is more astounding fact is that this octogenarian mountaineering enthusiast has already gone through four heart surgeries to treat recurring arrhythmia, including one just two months before he set out on his latest journey. He even broke his pelvis and fractured his thigh in a skiing accident in 2009.
Miura’s feat has no doubt proved that nothing is impossible in life. “Hoping to raise even an inch of human possibility” is what Miura wrote on his website. And, no one can disagree.
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