76 Year Old Guy Scales Everest, Notes It Was Pretty Easy Actually

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© r hyland

Posted partly as inspiration – “see kids, you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it” – but mostly as a reminder that we need to take a lot less pride in successfully acquiring Diet Coke every weekend. We feel a little bad for the 75 year old Japanese guy who now has to settle for being only the second oldest man to ever scale Everest, though that’s how it is in the unforgiving world of septuagenarian Everest climbing. As coach used to say, second place is the first one to lose, loser:

A Nepalese climber who scaled Everest aged 76 has finally been named by Guinness World Records as the oldest man to do so, following a lengthy battle for recognition. Min Bahadur Sherchan, now 78, reached the summit of the world’s highest peak in May 2008, but later discovered he had lost out on the record because he failed to provide the necessary evidence of his achievement… “I was delighted and overwhelmed when I reached the top, but I knew from the start that I would be able to do it,” he said. “I did not really have much trouble with the ascent.”

We’re not entirely convinced that the climb was as easy as he says, though we suppose it’s at least theoretically possible. The Nepalese have taken to using Everest as a kind of “what have you done recently” backdrop across the board. Easy example: to bring attention to climate change, the entire Nepalese cabinet is holding a meeting on Everest. It’s being billed as the highest such event in human history. To merely prepare for it they all had to arrive early and acclimatise themselves. Contrast that with what US officials have managed to do as of this morning, which more or less amounts to “spectacularly move to get the Senate to even consider Cap and Trade.”

On the other hand a Nepalese temple also just set humanity’s record for “single biggest animal slaughter on earth,” killing 15,000 buffalo and “countless” goats and birds – all in one ceremony. At the risk of reopening this can of worms about cultural sensitivity, can we at least all agree on a baseline reaction of “well that seems a bit much…”

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