Japanese alpinist Yuichiro Miura, who at 80 became the oldest person Thursday to reach the summit of Mount Everest, used a carefully structured scientific training regime and support from corporate sponsors and fans to achieve his goal.
His ascent of the world's highest peak has inspired more climbers aiming to repeat the feat, which has become a popular goal of even nonelite adventurers.
Miura's training room is in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, where he walks on a treadmill in an oxygen chamber that keeps the oxygen level at about half of sea level. At the top of 8,848-meter Everest, the oxygen density would be even lower at one-third.