Oldest climber returns safely from Everest

Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, 80, who became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest on May 23, 2013, gestures at Lukla airport where he takes a break while returning from Camp 2 to Katmandu by helicopter at Lukla, Nepal on Sunday.

A brief improvement in weather conditions has allowed the >oldest person to climb Mount Everest to leave the mountain on a helicopter.

The aircraft picked up 80-year-old Yuichiro Miura at Camp 2 and flew him to the base camp and then to Kathmandu on Sunday. He had initially planned to leave the mountain on Saturday but poor visibility and bad weather conditions forced the cancellation of the helicopter flight.

The weather improved briefly on Sunday, allowing the flight.

Miura, a Japanese former extreme skier, told reporters at Kathmandu’s airport that he was happy to have set a new record for oldest climber. He scaled the 8,850-meter peak on Thursday. A competitor, Nepal’s Min Bahadur Sherchan, who is 81, is still on the mountain hoping to break Miura’s record.