World

81-year-old climber quits Everest try, leaving Japanese mountaineer as oldest to reach summit

Associated Press
Published | Updated

80-year-old Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, who became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest on last Thursday, speaks to media upon his arrival at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Miura, a Japanese former extreme skier, conquered the mountain on May 23 despite undergoing heart surgery in January for an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, his fourth heart operation since 2007. He also broke his pelvis and left thigh bone in a 2009 skiing accident. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) (The Associated Press)

80-year-old Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, fourth left, who became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest on last Thursday, poses for photographers with his daughter Emiri, third left, and his CLARK Memorial International High School students upon his arrival at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Miura, a Japanese former extreme skier, conquered the mountain on May 23 despite undergoing heart surgery in January for an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, his fourth heart operation since 2007. He also broke his pelvis and left thigh bone in a 2009 skiing accident. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) (The Associated Press)

80-year-old Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, who became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest on Thursday, is garlanded as he returns from camp 2 by helicopter in Katmandu, Nepal, Sunday, May 26, 2013. Miura, a Japanese former extreme skier, told reporters at Katmandu's airport that he was happy to have set a new record for oldest climber. He scaled the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak on Thursday. A competitor, Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, 81, is still on the mountain hoping to break Miura's record. On the right is son Gota Miura,(AP Photo/Bikash Dware) (The Associated Press)

An 81-year-old Nepalese man has abandoned his attempt to climb Mount Everest, leaving a Japanese mountaineer with the record as the oldest person to scale the world's highest mountain.

Team member Dame said Wednesday that Min Bahadur Sherchan returned from Everest because weather conditions were worsening late in the spring climbing season for the Himalayas. Sherchan was having financial difficulties and a government grant for his climb only came last week.

Sherchan had held the record until last week when 80-year-old Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura scaled the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) mountain.