NEPAL: A 73-year-old Japanese woman has become the world's oldest woman to climb Mount Everest, repeating her own record set ten years ago

Record ID: 860201

  • Title: NEPAL: A 73-year-old Japanese woman has become the world's oldest woman to climb Mount Everest, repeating her own record set ten years ago
  • Date: 26th May 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF STILL PHOTO OF WATANABE WITH ONE OF THE SHERPAS, FURBA SHERPA, WITH MOUNTAIN BACKGROUND JOURNALISTS LISTENING
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nepal
  • City:
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA3L62F7JUWMHD5OMIA53Q45EN9
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  • Story Text: For the second time, a Japanese woman has become the world's oldest woman to climb Mount Everest, beating her own record set 10 years ago.
    Seventy-three-year-old Tamae Watanabe reached the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) summit with a Japanese partner and three Nepali Sherpa guides on Saturday morning, according to Ang Tshering Sherpa, who runs the Asian Trekking company and provided logistics to the team.
    She scaled the peak from the Tibetan side of the mountain.
    Watanabe became the oldest woman to climb the mountain back in 2002 aged 63.
    On Friday (May 25) her new record was officially recognized by the Guinness World Records.
    "Congratulations, Watanabe San. You are the symbol of courage, bravery and encourage, you are the source of inspiration for the millions of people in your own country and others as well," former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa, said.
    Watanabe said thanked them for "such a nice present" and described the conditions on the mountain during her summit.
    "There was severe wind. It has become somewhat difficult compared to ten years earlier. Because of the chilly wind the ascent has become more difficult," she said.
    Despite her age, Watanabe has vowed to continue climbing.
    "Since I live near Mount Fuji I am very keen on mountain climbing, but I feel the high mountains like those of Nepal may be a little difficult and problematic, but I will continue climbing small peaks," she said.
    Mount Everest straddles the Nepal-Tibet border.
    It has been scaled by 3,700 people since New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first climbed it in 1953.
    The list of climbers includes a blind person, a man with an artificial limb, a 13-year-old American boy and a 76-year-old Nepali man.
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