A 73-year-old woman will try for the third time to scale Mount Everest, hoping to become the oldest woman to conquer the world's tallest peak, Nepal's Tourism Ministry said Tuesday.
Eiko Funahashi, a patent lawyer from Tokyo, will fly to Lukla, the most popular gateway to the mountain, on April 17 and trek to the base camp to become acclimatized to the altitude before attempting to climb the mountain in the first week of May, a Katmandu-based agency handling her expedition said.
Funahashi abandoned two previous attempts, in 2006 and 2010, to reach the top of the 8,848-meter peak. If successful, she will beat the record set by fellow Japanese Tame Watanabe, who scaled the peak in 2002 at age 63. Funahashi is among eight Japanese climbers participating in three separate expeditions attempting Mount Everest this season, the Tourism Ministry said.