A Japanese woman stunned the mountaineering world Saturday by successfully climbing the world's tallest mountain at the age of 73, setting a formidable record that could stay unchallenged for decades.
Tamae Watanabe launched her final assault on the treacherous upper slopes of Mount Everest from an altitude of 8,300 meters Friday night, reaching the top of the 8,848-meter peak Saturday morning, said Ang Tshering Sherpa, chairman of Katmandu's Asian Trekking, which organized her expedition.
"Watanabe reached the top of Mount Everest at 7 a.m. Nepali time," Sherpa said after receiving confirmation by telephone from Watanabe's team. "She, along with Japanese mountaineer and photographer Noriyuki Muraguchi and three other team members reached the top successfully."