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| 60-plus Japanese sets mountaineering record |
| 21-Oct-2003 |
Kathmandu, October 18
Sixty-one-year-old Kondo Kazuyoshi, who has been scaling peaks over 8,000 metres without supporting oxygen since 1992, had been doing so oblivious of the fact that he had set a new record.
According to Everestnews.com, a 54-year-old Swiss national, Jean Troillet, was the oldest person to go beyond 8,000 metres when he attempted to scale Mt Everest without bottled oxygen but had to return from 8,400 m, in May 2002.
No one above the age of 60 is known to have reached so high without the help of oxygen, but Kazuyoshi, who is in town, did so this August when he successfully scaled 8035m Gasherbrum-II in Pakistan.
He reached the summit on August 1 with Japan Workers' Alpine Federation (JWAF) Gasherbrum-II Expedition 2003, at the age of 61 years and 250 days. The team comprised three other Japanese climbers and a Nepali.
According to a Nepal tourism official, the department has no record of any 60-year-old climbing a peak over 8,000 metres.
“My achievement proves that age doesn't really matter, provided one pursues and strives for the goal,” says Kazuyoshi, while talking to The Himalayan Times.
Kazuyoshi, who is also a senior instructor with JWAF, has over four decades of mountaineering experience. “I had no intention to set the world record. Mountains always inspire me to see and touch their top,” he adds. “Since my record is not officially confirmed, I would like to meet anyone who has achieved the feat,” he says.
Kondo has attempted 13 such peaks in the last 11 years and successfully scaled seven of them, including the world's tallest peak — Mt Everest (1998), which he climbed with the help of oxygen.
Kazuyoshi has scaled 8201-m Cho Oyu (1992), 8008-m Shisapangma (1994), 8167-m Dhaulagiri-I (1995), 8125-m Nanga Parbat (1999), 8047-m Broad Peak (2000) and 8035-m Gasherbrum (2003).
Source: HT
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