When Ken Noguchi reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1999, at the age of 25 he became the youngest person to have scaled the highest peaks on all seven continents. Born to a Japanese father and Egyptian mother, he grew up moving around the globe. His love affair with the dizzy heights of high-altitude climbing started at 16, when he dropped out of school and then climbed both Mont Blanc and Kilimanjaro in the space of the next four months. Recently, he has focused his efforts on cleaning up the tons of garbage left behind by expedition groups on Mount Everest, and educating both children and adults on environmental issues. Following the publication of his latest book, "Hiyakuman-kai no konchikusho (A Million Curses)," on Feb. 27, Noguchi, now 28, spoke with The Japan Times about the high -- and low -- points of his career so far, his future plans and his penchant for sandy beaches.
Your first major climbs were ascents of Mont Blanc and Kilimanjaro at age 16. What got you started so young?
I had a tough time at high school -- I got into fights, and was even suspended for beating up a senior. So I dropped out. It was at this time that I came across the writings of Naomi Uemura [who in the mid-1970s became the first person to climb the highest peaks on five continents].