Yuichiro Miura — An Age-Defying Alpinist
At the top of the world (figuratively) at 80.
A Documentary Buff, and the Revelation
Owing to my predilection for documentary movies, I stumbled upon — The Man Who Skied Down Everest — an Oscar-winning documentary, a few days back. Although the title implies accomplishing an audacious feat, the man’s life story in context has been much more fascinating and intrepid than what the documentary could capture in 86 minutes.
Like Father, Like Son
Yuichiro Miura, who is 88 now, was introduced to skiing when he was a youngster, and ever since then, has fallen in love with massifs. His legendary father, Keizo Miura, was a Japanese skier, teacher, and mountain photographer, who was well known for his fitness and undertaking extreme sports at elderliness. At 77, he was the oldest person to climb Kilimanjaro, and at 99, along with his son Yuichiro and grandson Yuta, Keizo de-escalated a glacier at Mont Blanc. Yuichiro inherited similar traits from his father and walked closely in the footsteps of his legacy.
The Man Who Skied Down Everest
The documentary mentioned above narrates Yuichiro’s endeavor to ski down Mount Everest from the South Col (elevation over 8000 meters with slopes at 40 to 45 degrees) in 1970, which also proclaimed him the first person to achieve this coup. “99% Sure I would not survive,” he said in an interview. The strong turbulent mountain winds were changing direction vigorously, making it difficult for him to maintain balance, and quite predictably, as he said, his entire focus was on finding the answer to where his soul would settle after leaving his mortal body by the end of the descend.
Unceasing Skiing
Yuichiro’s prominence has been afloat in the skiing world since much prior. In 1964, he set a world record in speed skiing of 172.084 km/hr, which is nearly equivalent to 107 miles per hour. Although the record was broken pretty shortly, Miura turned his gaze towards the other majestic summits of the world. In April 1966, he skied Mount Fuji at an average speed of 93 miles per hour and became the first person to ski that mountain. The same year, Miura skied Mount Kosciusko, the highest peak in Australia, and Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, the following year. In 1968, he became the first person to ski Mount Popocatépetl in Mexico. From 1978 to 1985, Miura was recognized for skiing at seven of the highest peaks in Europe. When the world was grappling with his skiing records, Miura went on to achieve a feat that ultimately put his name in the Guinness Book of Records.
Turning Gaze Towards the Highest Peak
On May 29th, 1953, when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay ascended the highest peak in the world, Yuichiro Miura was a young adult. His age might not have been favorable, but his calling was no less elevated than the mountain itself. He visualized himself atop the world (figuratively) one day. On an invitation trip to New Zealand by New Zealand’s Tourism Bureau to ski the Tasman Glacier, Miura met Sir Edmund Hillary, his beau ideal since youthful days. The meeting with his hero had rekindled his commitment to scale Mount Everest, but it was not until 2003, at the age of 70 he set foot on the highest peak of the world. Thus, sculpting the world record of being the oldest man to summit the highest peak. However, the wonders of this Japanese alpinist and skier don’t seem to cease.
Wonderment by an Octogenarian
In 2006 and 2007, Miura underwent two heart surgeries for cardiac arrhythmia, but that unfortunate event was not the end of adventure sports in his life. In 2008, at the age of 75, he rescaled Mount Everest, breaking his previous record. You may find yourself gasping at this attainment, but Miura doesn’t. Therefore 5 years later, on May 23rd, 2013, Miura again became the oldest person to set foot on the top of the world (figuratively) at 80. This triumph earned the octogenarian a listing in the Guinness Book of Records.
To The Top with Right Amount of Diet and Physical Workout
In an interview with the Kyodo news agency via satellite phone, Miura said, “I’m feeling on top of the world. Even at the age of 80, I can go on and on.” Miura owes his age-defying undertakings to healthy eating and organic food. His daily breakfast consists of home-cooked rice, eggs, fish, soya bean, and miso soup — a traditional Japanese soup prepared with Miso — a Japanese seasoning prepared with fermented soybeans, Wakame, and Kombu — edible seaweeds, and Spring Onion. On being asked about the physical training he had undergone to prepare himself for the climb, he said that he walked daily for 5.5 miles with 30 kgs of weight on his back and 5 kg on each leg. He also stayed in a low oxygen room periodically to acclimatize to oxygen shortage conditions.
No To The Naysayers
Although Miura was showered with praises from worldwide for his incredible stunt, a few critical opinions also came along. After reaching the highest summit, he could not make the descent and therefore was airlifted from the highest base camp at 6500 meters. This had turned out to be a matter of debate, as renowned alpinist Ken Noguchi had argued that a climb to Mount Everest could not be considered complete if one doesn’t make the descent by walking. Whatsoever may be the views of the critiques, taking on an arduous journey, by an octogenarian, in itself speaks volumes and calls for admiration.
What are your thoughts about incredible human achievements that tend to flout the conventional paradigms? One of such being that people should retire at 60.
Please leave your opinion in the comment section. You may also send me an email; I am all ears at samiran_banerjee@outlook.com.
If you like this article, please leave a clap for me. You may also read my previous articles from the links below,
