Nepali Man Sets Off to Reclaim Everest Crown

A file photo dated 14 September 2013 shows 8,848 m (29,028 feet) high Mount Everest, seen from an aircraft over Nepal. One year after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpas on Mount Everest and ended the climbing season, mountaineers are scrambling toward the world's highest peak once again. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA

KATHMANDU (DPA) — ​ A former Nepalese Gurkha soldier set off Friday for Mount Everest in a renewed attempt to be the oldest person to summit the world's highest mountain, authorities said.

Min Bahadur Sherchan, 83, left from Kathmandu on the country's national day to attempt to reclaim his previous record, broken in 2013 by Japanese citizen Yuichiro Miura, then aged 80, according to the Nepal Tourism Board.

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In this handout picture taken on 22 May 2010, Nepalese mountaineer Apa Sherpa stands in front of Hillary step atop Mount Everest in Nepal, while breaking his own record. EPA/COURTESY APA SHERPA 

Sherchan tried to reclaim his title later that season, but was forced to abandon the attempt due to breathing problems and bad weather.

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"I want to make an attempt again, to prove to the world the courage of the Nepalese Gurkha sldiers," Sherchan, an ex-serviceman of the British Gurkha Army, told a press conference on Wednesday in Kathmandu.

Sherchan's attempt was being supported by the Non-Resident Nepalese Association in Britain.

A number of other climbers were attempting records on Everest this season.

Nepali HIV patient Gopal Shrestha is attempting to be the first person with the virus to scale the mountain.

Another Nepali, Leela Bahadur Basnet, is to try and set a new record by completing the trip from the capital to the top of Everest and back again within 10 days.

Climbers usually spend several weeks acclimatizing at the Everest Base Camp before they begin the climb to the top, whose altitude is estimated at around 8,840 metres.

Kathmandu is around 1,400 metres above sea level.

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Nearly 400 people had arrived at the Everest Base Camp by late April, a year after all expeditions were abandoned for the season after an avalanche killed 16.

 

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