Anyone who hears about a post-septuagenarian capable of doing amazing feats could feel insecure about their capabilities. Now, anyone reading this would likely feel the same level of insecurity because Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, 85 years old, has announced he will attempt to climb Mount Everest as the oldest person to reach the summit.
According to Hindustan Times, Min Bahadur Sherchan intends to climb Mount Everest the following month when the mountains are expected to have favorable weather for climbing. Sherchan previously held the record for the world's oldest person to climb the 29,000-foot mountain on the Himalayas in 2008 and was defeated by an 80-year-old Japanese man in 2013, Yuichiro Miura.
Sherchan is a grandfather of 17 and a great-grandfather of six. He is completely confident in his capabilities to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. NBC cites an interview with Sherchan that he has no problems heading up the peak he but finds that "the only problem could be the weather."
Sherchan is confident because he is acclimated to higher altitudes where the oxygen is thinner. Most climbers climb back down due to the possible fatality introduced by the thinner air and low oxygen levels. In most Mount Everest Base Camp training, special breathing exercises and training help climbers traverse Mount Everest but only experience similar to Sherchan guarantees success.
Min Bahadur Sherchan's one fear from Everest is the Khumbu Icefall. Climbers use aluminum ladders and ropes to traverse deep wide gashes and crevasses as they pass on to the sides of the mountains.
Sherchan loved mountain climbing during his younger and middle age in 1960. He was assigned as a liaison officer for the Swiss team climbing Mount Dhaulagiri during the time. It was his tenure with the Nepalese government that he climbed the seventh-highest mountain in the world.
