A 77-year-old retired Nepali soldier has entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest man to have climbed Mount Everest.Min Bahadur Sherchan who climbed the world's tallest peak in May last year at the age of 76 years beat the previous record of Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, two years his junior.
"The oldest man to climb Mt Everest is Min Bahadur Sherchan (Nepal b. 20 June 1931) who reached the summit on 25 May 2008 at the age of 76 years 340 days," says the certificate handed by Guinness to Sherchan recently.
According to reports, documentary lapses led Guinness recognize Miura's claim as Sherchan had failed to complete the formalities needed. The Japanese had scaled the peak two days after Sherchan.
The Nepali climber was shocked when he came to know in February this year about Miura's claim to the record. Enquiries revealed that the documents he had couriered to the Guinness office were not sufficient and hence Miura's claim got recognized.Sherchan had sent a copy of the recognition given by the Nepali government and a letter of appreciation by President Ram Baran Yadav. But he went to Guinness's London office this year and gave enough proof to stake his claim for the record.
"It's nice to get acknowledgement and recognition for the achievement which should rightfully have been mine in the first place," Sherchan told reporters at Kathmandu on Monday.
Miura who was the first person to ski down Mt. Everest in 1970 had set record for being the oldest to climb the peak in 2003 at the age of 70. His record was beaten by another Japanese Katsusuke Yanagisawa in 2007.