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29 March 2024

76-year-old man becomes oldest person to climb Mount Everest

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By AP

A 76-year-old Nepalese man reached the summit of Mount Everest on Sunday to become the oldest person to climb the world’s highest mountain, mountaineering officials said.

Min Bahadur Sherchan reached the 8,850m summit early in the morning with his climbing guides, said Nepal’s Tourism Ministry official Ramesh Chetri.

Sherchan is just 25 days from his 77th birthday, Chetri said.

He beat the record set last year by Japanese climber Katsusuke Yanagisawa, who scaled the peak at age 71. Sherchan was in good health and was descending from the summit, Chetri said.

The former soldier has climbed smaller mountains before his Everest feat and has been an active sportsman, Chetri said.

He said about a dozen climbers were reported to have scaled Everest on Sunday following one of the busiest weeks in the mountain’s climbing season.

A veteran Sherpa guide scaled Everest on Thursday for a record eighteenth time. Appa, who like most Sherpas goes by only one name, reached the summit along with several colleagues.

He was among more than 80 climbers to reach the summit that day – the largest number ever on a single day from the Nepalese side of the peak.

Mountaineers were able to resume Everest expeditions on May 9 after the government lifted a temporary ban ordered to prevent any protests against China’s rule in Tibet during an ascent by Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic torch.

The Chinese torch team scaled the summit on May 8 – from the northern Tibetan side of Everest – and Nepal lifted the ban a day later.