Friday's Washington Post (May 24) included the usual sadly depressing litany of people killing one another: the page 8 world news digest included " 5-day death toll at 16 after frightful night" (Lebanon); Rickshaw bomb killed 13 in Baluchistan"; "7 Iraqi soldiers shot dead at checkpoint."
Then at the end a short note on an astonishing event: "Japanese man, 80, becomes oldest to scale Everest." The paragraph notes that "an 80-year old Japanese man who began the year with his fourth heart operation became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest. . . even with an 81 year-old Nepalese climber not far behind him."
This is the mountain that for the first half of the twentieth century the world's greatest climbers, in the prime of their lives failed to conquer, until Edmond Hillary and Tensing achieved the feat in 1953. And they were young and in top shape. Many octogenarians, myself included, consider it a challenging climb to walk upstairs in our houses and here are two men in their 80's, one of whom had recently had his fourth heart operation, on top of Everest! It's almost impossible to believe.
Mountain climbing has long been one of my favourite activities. I've hiked the Green Mountains in Vermont, the White Mountains in New Hampshire (including several winter ascents of Mounts Washington, Adams and Lafayette, with some of the world's worst weather), The Rocky Mountains, the French Alps, and even the Himalayan foothills. But never have I aspired to try the great Himalayan Peaks.
So I have no envy of Yuichiro Miura. I have only incredulous awe of his feat and vast admiration. At a time when I'm dealing with reduced physical capacities, he's climbing Everest after his fourth heart operation. What a guy. I'd love to shake his hand some day.
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