Oldest Guys Rule Everest!

After the Chinese torch relay reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 8 and the mountain was cleared for the rest of the waiting parties to climb, a slew of amazing and interesting ascents took place over the past few weeks.

Perhaps the most amazing was the senior citizen ascents. On May 25 Min Bahadar Surchan, a 76-year-old Nepali grandpa, became the oldest man to reach the world’s high point. The next day the second oldest climber, 75-year-old Yuichiro Miura from Japan topped out. Everest, for Miura, is not a new place. He climbed the dark peak in 1978 and 2003. On the 1978 expedition he became the first to ski Everest’s Lhotse Face. Read more and see photos of his ascent at the Miura Qomolangma 2008 website.

Everest News notes that as of May 28, 269 people have summitted Everest and there has been only one death. Swiss guide Uwe Gianni Goltz expired on May 21 after attempting an oxygenless ascent. This remarkable number of successful ascents and along those still on the mountain will undoubtedly go down as the highest number of climbers to reach the top in a single season.

Nepal News reports that “legendary climber and former mountaineering guide Appa Sherpa scaled the world's tallest mountain without artificial oxygen for a record 18th time” on May 22. The day before Farouq Saad Hamad Al-Zuman, called “The Edmund Hillary of Saudi Arabia,” became to first Saudi to reach the summit. Australian News reports that on May 24 Cheryl and Nikki Bart became the first mother and daughter team to climb Mount Everest, which was also the last of the fabled Seven Summits for them to ascend. Lastly Dave Hahn, with International Mountain Guides, became the first non-Sherpa to reach the summit after his 10th ascent.

Photo top: Old guys rule! Surchan and Miura after climbing the big one.
Photo bottom: Yuichiro Miura feels on top of the world.
Photographs courtesy Miura Qomolangma 2008

Suggested Reading:
Mount Everest
World's Highest Mountains
Seven Summits

Buy Everest books:
Snow in the Kingdom--My Storm Years on Everest by Ed Webster
Dark Summit by Nick Heil