80-Year-Old Japanese Attempting Record Climb Of Mt. Everest

At the age of 80, most people are concerned with getting up enough energy to do the simplest of tasks. Not Yuichiro Miura. Instead, he is attempting to do what no man has done before him and become the oldest man to ever scale Mt. Everest.

Miura, an 80-year-old Japanese man, has already climbed Everest twice at the relatively vibrant ages of 70 and 75. He insists however that he does not care about breaking any records, and instead is doing this to test himself. 

Miura believes that the effects this climb (cold temperatures, lower oxygen, etc.) will have on his body will make him feel much older than he already is. He says that it should effectively add 70 years to his age while he is up there.

"No mankind ever lived that long, that old, and he's so curious to know how it would be like," his daughter said. "He would like to know what is the limit, what is the possibility, potential of humankind."

Granted, not everyone gives much credence to the idea that Miura will be physically aging that much while he approaches the summit. Frits Vrijlandt is one such critic of that advanced-age theory, though does not discount the difficulty and impressiveness of Miura's plan.

"It will never be easy for him. It will be difficult, but how difficult I don't know," Vrijlandt, 45, head of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation, said. "The one thing I hope [is] that he survives the whole trip because at this age - undergoing three heart surgeries, three times - it doesn't sound very healthy. But he can be very strong. He's very determined. So we'll see."

Despite the doubt from Vrijlandt and others, Miura is confident that he will succeed in his dreams. He also does not foresee his trip to Everest as an end either. Miura is already pondering what it would be like to ski down the sixth-largest mountain in the world, Cho Oyu.

"Maybe, when I become 85 years old, and if I stay alive, I want to climb and ski down Cho Oyu," Miura said. "It is my next dream."

Any advice to those of us still trying to pursue our dreams, Mr. Miura?

"If you wish strongly, have courage and endurance, then you can get to the summit of your dream," he says.