Nepal’s mountaineer Serchan tries to regain Mt. Everest Record at 83

(Photo : Yuichiro Miura and Min Bahadur Rayamajhi)

Kathmandu:  An octogenarian Nepali mountaineer, whose Guinness World Record as the oldest man to conquer Mt. Everest, the highest peak of the world, was breached by a Japanese octogenarian in May this year, is planning to climb the peak again in Spring next year.

Onetime Guinness World Record holder octogenarian mountaineer Min Bahadur Serchan, 82, has urged the government to support his endevour to set an unreachable record in mountaineering.  Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, 80, became the oldest man to reach atop Mt. Everest this season, and broke Serchan’s record in six years.

Although Serchan had also tried to scale the peak this year, he could not make it above the base camp. He blamed the government for his failed attempt claiming that the government did not give him permission in time.

“By the time, I reached the base camp, the climbing season ended and the weather condition worsened,” The Rising Nepal, an English Daily, quoted him recently. However, the media had reported that he abandoned his attempt due to illness, which he refutes strongly.

This energetic old man has started preparing for his feat nine months before the arrival of the climbing season to retain his earlier record. Serchan had set the record in 2008 by climbing the 8,848 m peak at the age of 76 by breaking Miura’s pervious record set at the age of 70.

Serchan, who hails from western Himalaya region of Nepal, said that he would conquer the peak again in 2014 and retain his record if the government provided support in time. Sherchan said that the government should not hesitate to extend its support to the mountaineers who want to set a new record as such record would benefit the nation as well.

The octogenarian also wants to extend a message of peace and brotherhood across the world by climbing the highest peak at the age of 83. Serchan made his first attempt in Mt. Everest at the age of 72 and  succeeded four years after at the age of  76 in 2008.

He has no formal training on mountaineering and he had made the feat due to his physical and mental fitness. He kept on walking to keep his body intact.

“I walked 202 km from Kathmandu to Pokhara in four days braving the heat of summer sun. “I covered the entire length of Nepal (1028 km) from Mechi to Mahakali  on foot in 20 days at the age of 72. Similarly, I walked from the Himalayas in Nepal-China boarder to the plain in India in nine days at the age of 73 years,” The Rising Nepal quoted the old mountaineer.