Salon.com > Nepal

80-year-old becomes oldest to climb Mount Everest

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:49:00 +0000

KATMANDU, Nepal – An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer on Thursday became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest -- although his record may last only a few days. An 81-year-old Nepalese man, who held the previous record, plans his own ascent next week.

Yuichiro Miura, who also conquered the 29,035-foot peak when he was 70 and 75, reached the summit at 9:05 a.m. local time Thursday, according to a Nepalese mountaineering official and Miura's Tokyo-based support team.

Miura and his son Gota called them from the summit, prompting his daughter Emili to smile broadly and clap her hands in footage on public broadcaster NHK.

"I made it!" Miura said over the phone. "I never imagined I could make it to the top of Mt. Everest at age 80. This is the world's best feeling, although I'm totally exhausted. Even at 80, I can still do quite well."

The climbers planned to stick around the summit for about half an hour, take photos and then start to descend, his office said.

Nepalese mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha, at Everest base camp, confirmed that Miura had reached the summit, making him the oldest person to do so.

Fight breaks out on Mount Everest

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

KATMANDU, Nepal – Nepalese mountaineering officials say they are investigating reports of a fight between three foreign climbers and local Sherpa guides on Mount Everest.

Dipendra Poudel of the Mountaineering Department said the three climbers -- from Italy, Switzerland and Britain -- were involved in arguments with some Sherpa guides on Sunday.

Poudel says both sides accuse each other of starting the fight, adding mountaineering officials based at the Everest base camp were investigating the incident.

Sherpa guides hired by the hundreds of Western climbers attempting to climb the world's highest mountain are the first ones to fix the ropes on the routes so their clients can climb to the peak.

The Sherpas are accusing the foreign climbers of starting the fight.

Nepal to issue “third gender” IDs

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:44:00 +0000

An official says Nepal’s government will begin issuing citizenship certificates with the category "third gender" for people who do not wish to be identified as male or female.

Activists hailed the decision, saying it was an achievement for gay and transgender rights.

Home Ministry Bhola Siwakot says an order to issue the certificates was sent to all district administration offices.

Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the government should issue "third gender" citizenship certificates but it took five years to implement the decision.

Sunilbabu Pant of the Blue Diamond Society says the simple and clear guidelines for issuing the certificates should make life easier for sexual minorities.

Activists say "third gender" minorities have had difficulty getting jobs or passports, enrolling in schools or owning property without proper citizenship certificates.

Picture of the day

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:31:00 +0000

[caption id="attachment_12971947" align="alignleft" width="460" caption="Gays, lesbians, transvestites and their supporters dance as they participate in a gay rally in Pokhara 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Katmandu, Nepal, Friday. Hundreds of gay, lesbian and transgender people marched in a Nepal town to demand recognition as a third gender in citizen certificates, to allow same-sex marriage and support criminalizing discrimination based on sexual preference. (AP/Niranjan Shrestha)"][/caption]

New in town: Nepalis join the Latin trek to America

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:38:00 +0000

NEW YORK — Tashi vividly remembers the two black Customs and Border Patrol helicopters that hovered over Arizona desert’s blue sky two years ago, marring the first moments of his American dream. It had been nine days since he left Nepal, a journey that took him by plane to Guatemala, then overland by van and finally on foot to Mexico across the US border.

Now it seemed the long journey was about to end. His jeans were covered in desert sand. His shirt reeked of dust and sweat. There, in the desert outside of Tucson, Ariz., as the border patrol closed in, Tashi saw his childhood dreams of making his fortune in the West disappear.

“I was numb, didn’t know what to do,” he recalled. “ I have never seen anything like this except in movies.”

And then, they got him.

Tashi, 28, asked to withhold his real name because he fears being investigated by immigration authorities. He grew up in a small, remote Himalayan village in the Sagarmatha Zone of northeastern Nepal.