Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
April 17, 2017
At 85, Nepali aims to regain title of oldest Everest climber
PEAKED INTEREST. Nepalese mountain
climber Min Bahadur Sherchan does his morning
yoga at his residence in Kathmandu, Nepal. The
85-year-old climber who was once the oldest person
to scale the world’s highest mountain is heading back
to Mount Everest in hopes of scaling the peak and re-
gaining the title. Sherchan is aiming to climb Everest
next month when there is a window of favorable
weather on the summit. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
By Binaj Gurubacharya
The Associated Press
ATHMANDU, Nepal — A Nepali
who was once the oldest climber
to scale Mount Everest is at-
tempting to regain that title, at age 85,
with hopes that the feat will help him
spread a message of peace.
Min Bahadur Sherchan plans to climb
the 29,035-foot peak next month during a
window of favorable weather on the
summit.
“I want to be the oldest person to scale
Everest again to be an inspiration for
humankind, a boost for the elderly people
and an encouragement for youths,”
Sherchan said at his home in Kathmandu.
“It will be a message for everyone that age
is no obstacle to achieving their dreams.”
The grandfather of 17 and great-
grandfather of six first scaled Everest in
May 2008, when he was 76, but his record
was broken by then 80-year-old Japanese
climber Yuichiro Miura in 2013.
Sherchan’s attempt to climb Everest in
2013 was cut short because of financial
problems and delays in getting the
climbing permit. Another try in 2015 was
cancelled because an avalanche triggered
by a devastating earthquake swept the
K
base camp, killing 19 people just a day
before he reached the site.
“I am confident that I will succeed this
time. I have no problems that could stop
me from climbing Everest and the only
problem could be weather,” Sherchan said.
He added that he has no respiratory
problems and his blood pressure is normal.
Being born in the mountains, he has one
big advantage over most climbers: He is
used to the altitude. High-altitude
sickness can be fatal for people who are not
acclimated to the thin air and low oxygen
levels. He said he is worried only about the
11 pounds he gained in the last few
months.
“I am not scared of climbing, but the only
part I fear is the part between base camp
and Camp 1, which is very dangerous,”
Sherchan said.
Depleted squads from Japan & South Korea fall short at WBC
Continued from page 8
an Andrew McCutchen single for the
game’s first run.
Kikuchi made up for his error in the
sixth inning by tying the game with a solo
shot, and the score stayed knotted until
the eighth when bad luck struck once
again for Japan. With runners on second
and third, Adam Jones hit a hard grounder
to third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda, who
misplayed the ball, allowing the runner on
third to scamper home with the go-ahead
run. Japan had its chances to respond, but
came up empty, falling short of the final
game by a single run.
It comes as some consolation that the
U.S. won the 2017 WBC final, blanking
Puerto Rico 8-0. So Japan not only held the
U.S. to its lowest run output of the
tournament, it also gave the champs their
closest victory.
More importantly, the third-place finish
highlighted the strength of Team Japan,
who played without any of its top-flight
MLB players or Ohtani. While future WBC
tournaments may hold more disappoint-
ments for Team Japan, that may be a sign
of more top-notch Japanese talent, not
less. And no fan of Asian sports could ask
for more than that.
That stretch includes the dreaded
Khumbu Icefall, where climbers use
aluminum ladders and ropes to navigate
around deep crevasses amid tall ice blocks.
Sherchan’s love of mountaineering
began in 1960 when he was assigned by the
Nepalese government as a liaison officer
for the Swiss team climbing Mount
Dhaulagiri.
He later became an apple farmer and
constructed roads and dams before
settling down to run hotels in Kathmandu.
He and his team of six guides and
helpers includes team leader Shiva
Bahadur Sapkota, who has scaled Everest
twice.
He said that if he regains his record, he
plans to campaign for world peace by
travelling to conflict areas like Syria.
“After I become the oldest Everest
climber, people will listen to my campaign
for world peace,” he said.
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