Here at #thisisguavo Media – we do not put prime focus on the competitive angles or any record-related aspects of a challenge because this doesn’t exclusively on its own serve to fit the underlying purpose of our wider purpose / work remit. For us, the prime focus is on ‘Incredible‘ – so whether you are the first to achieve something, or part of a long list of many – if it’s Incredible in nature we will be involved.
80-year-old Japanese mountaineer just this morning became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest – and we were following his journey all this week via his team.
Yuichiro Miura, who also conquered the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) 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.
Miura and his son Gota made a phone call from the summit, prompting his daughter Emili to smile broadly and clap her hands as you will be able to hear in the above video recorded by his family and team. For those fluent in Japanese you can follow the full conversation, and for anyone who doesn’t you will still be touched by the touching exchange in words and emotions.
Key translation quoted as:
“I made it!” Miura said over the phone. “I never imagined I could make it to the top of Mount Everest at age 80. This is the world’s best feeling, although I’m totally exhausted. Even at 80, I can still do quite well.”
Nepalese mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha, at Everest base camp, confirmed that Miura had reached the summit and is the oldest person to do so.
On his expedition’s website, Miura explained his attempt to scale Everest at such an advanced age:
“It is to challenge (my) own ultimate limit. It is to honor the great Mother Nature.”
He said a successful climb would raise the bar for what is possible.
“And if the limit of age 80 is at the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest place on earth, one can never be happier,” he said.
It is also worth mentioning that Miura conquered the mountain despite undergoing heart surgery in January for irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, his fourth heart operation since 2007, according to his daughter. He also broke his pelvis and left thigh bone in a 2009 skiing accident.
Miura initially became famous in Japan when he was a young man as a daredevil speed skier.
Congratulations from us to a really remarkable man who has inspired us to even attempt reaching for that Everest summit ourselves one day – maybe at the age of 81 even… truly GUAVO to the core!
PHOTO / VIDEO CREDITS: courtesy of Miura Dolphins
