Climber from Nepal, 77, oldest climber to scale Mount Everest
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008He was reported in good health as he began making his descent. The 74-year-old man from Nepal is now the oldest person to have reached the top of Mt Everest. They flexed their muscles this year all the in name of the Olympic spirit, but it was hardly spirited at all.”
Bahadur Sherchan last attempt resulted in the rescue of Lincoln Hall, an Australian climber who was left by his team in the “death zone.”
The Chinese were flying their airplanes over the mountain and had Chinese officials in Kathmandu. Sherchan just 16 days away from his 77th birthday beat the age record set last year by 71-year-old Japanese teacher Katsusuke Yanagisawa.
Further, he was all too aware of the potential dangers the mountain could bring. Certain parts of the climb are more dangerous than others and it is important for climbers to remain focused Bahadur Sherchan and four climbing guides reached the 29,035-foot (8,850-meters) summit of the world’s highest mountain early Sunday, said Ramesh Chretri, an official with Nepal’s ministry of tourism. “Mount Everest this year became a political pawn,” he said with some frustration.
Now that Min Bahadur Sherchan has successfully scaled the tallest mountain in the world, he is once again ready to focus on his family. Hall was frostbitten and severely disoriented due to altitude sickness. Andrew Brash returned a hero to Calgarians. More than 3231 people have climbed to the summit since it was first conquered in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary, who died in January, and Nepal’s Tenzing Norgay.
Bahadur Sherchan returned this week from Nepal after successfully climbing to the summit of Everest. They basically coerced the Nepali government to not allow any climbers past camp two on the Nepali side. Nevertheless, the decision to actualize a long-time personal goal left Andrew Brash with some internal uncertainties, he cited the political actions of China and Nepal as providing the greatest adversity he faced on his journey. With the Chinese preparing for the impending summer Olympic Games, Min Bahadur Sherchan noted that the government’s actions hardly reflected the Olympic spirit. As he planned for the climb, Sherchan told reporters he wanted to inspire fellow senior citizens. He also said many Nepalese have established records on Chomolungma, so it was only fitting that the record for the oldest climber to reach the summit should also belong to a Nepali. This year mountaineer Anthony Loeff is reporting the scales for the Mount Everest after reaching the top of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania earlier this season.
His first found him within 250 metres of the peak when his team stopped to help a fellow mountaineer who was left for dead. One year later, Min Bahadur Sherchan, a University of Calgary alumni, returned to Chomolungma or Mount Everest to finish what he had started.
“The Chinese weren’t allowing anybody on the mountain. They ended up commandeering it for themselves, even though the mountain is shared by two countries.
