Japanese man oldest to scale Everest

NAGANO (Kyodo) A 71-year-old Japanese has become the world's oldest person to reach the 8,850-meter summit of Mount Everest, the Japan Mountaineering Association said Tuesday.

Katsusuke Yanagisawa was 71 years, 2 months and 2 days old when he reached the world's highest peak May 22, eclipsing the previous record held by another Japanese, Takao Arayama, who was 70 years, 7 months and 13 days old at the time.

Yanagisawa, a retired teacher from Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, who joined a New Zealand climbing expedition, left a camp in the Chinese-controlled Tibetan autonomous region April 8 to begin scaling the peak.

Members of the expedition including Yanagisawa reached the summit at around 8 a.m. May 22 as fine weather prevailed.

In May 2003, professional skier Yuichiro Miura, who was 70 years, 7 months and 10 days old, became the oldest person to conquer Everest.

Three years later, Arayama broke Miura's record.