Japanese mountain climber becomes oldest to reach Everest summit

An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had four heart surgeries reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday becoming the oldest person to conquer the world's highest mountain.

Yuichiro Miura, who took the standard southeast ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay 60 years ago, reached the top of the 8,848 metre (29,028 feet) mountain at roughly 9:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT). He was accompanied by three other Japanese, including his son, and six Nepali sherpas.

"It feels great," he told family members and supporters gathered in Tokyo by satellite phone from the summit.
Miura, who first climbed Everest in 2003 and repeated the feat five years later, takes the oldest climber record from Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who reached the summit at the age of 76 in 2008.

"The record is not so important to me," Miura told Reuters in April, before setting off for Everest. "It is important to get to the top."