102-year-old Japanese man Kokichi Akuzawa has become the oldest person officially to reach the summit of Mount Fuji (3,776 metres). His achievement has been recorded by Guinness World Records. In 2019, he had already climbed Mount Fuji at the age of 96, setting the previous record for the peak.
Kokichi was joined on Mount Fuji by his 70-year-old daughter and her husband, his grandson, and a group of friends from a local mountaineering club. Akuzawa himself admits: “I wanted to give up, but there were those beside me who believed and helped.”
Kokichi Akuzawa is not the only person to keep climbing mountains at an advanced age. Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura in 2013, at the age of 80, climbed Everest (8,848 m), setting the world record for the oldest ascent of the planet’s highest mountain. Spaniard Carlos Soria, one of the world’s most respected mountaineers, continues to tackle 8,000-metre peaks at 86; he has already climbed 12 of the 14 and intends to complete the full list. These climbers are inspiring examples of people for whom age is not an obstacle, but just a number in a passport.
