102-year-old climber Akuzawa Kokichi in Japan has entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest person to climb Mount Fuji, which is 3.776 meters high.
Akuzawa and his team stayed in camp for two nights before reaching Japan’s highest mountain at 3.776 meters.
He completed the challenging climb with his 70-year-old daughter, grandson and a four-person mountaineering team, earning himself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest person to climb Mount Fuji.
At the age of 96, Akuzawa was recorded as the oldest person to climb Mount Fuji and over the past six years, he has suffered from a number of health problems, including heart disease.
Akuzawa said he was ready to give up halfway through his climb, but with the support of his family, he reached the top.
He explained that he trained for three months before climbing Mount Fuji, waking up at 05:00 a.m. every morning to do walking and climbing exercises.
After noting that Mount Fuji was not a difficult mountain, but this time it was more difficult than it had been six years ago, Akuzawa said: “I have never felt so weak. I had no pain, but I kept wondering why I was so slow and had no resistance at all. I had already exceeded my physical limits, and I only achieved this thanks to the strength of everyone else.”
He emphasizes that he first began to show interest in mountaineering at the age of 14, explaining his motivation with the words: “I like climbing. It’s easy to make friends in the mountains.”
One of the country’s national symbols, Mount Fuji, with a height of 3.776 meters and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located between Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. /AA/
AloJapan.com