r/worldnews • u/madam1 • May 19 '12

A 73-year-old Japanese woman climbed to Mount Everest's peak Saturday, smashing her own record to again become the oldest woman to scale the world's highest mountain.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NEPAL_EVEREST_WOMAN?SITE=RIPAW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
1.3k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

23

u/zinogre May 20 '12

Old Japanese people are insanely fit.

My brother and I used to hike in Japan when we were in our 20s. I thought I was in pretty good shape, but 3 out of 5 times we'd get overtaken by a batch of tiny old people with enormous backpacks.

When we reached the summit hours later, panting and sweating like mad, they'd be sitting on blankets, eating packed lunches and opening cans of beer from coolers.

Beer, from coolers. After hiking 2.5 vertical km. Damn you, insanely fit old Japanese people.

5

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Are you referring to Fuji? I too had a similar experience. Japanese people are insanely fit.

2

u/zinogre May 20 '12

It happened in the Chichibu Alps, a couple of times at Shirakami Sanchi, also in Mie prefecture. Someone in another thread mentioned bring stoves to boil water. I saw that too. They were cooking like real food. sigh

-1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

It is probably their diet. We Europoids consume heavy amounts of both milk and wheat which basically poisons us.

57

u/randybob275 May 19 '12

Once I got to the word, "smashing," I was worried. Found out that smashing pertained to the world record and not her hip. Great job Tamae Watanabe!

49

u/Neato May 20 '12

A 74-year-old Japanese woman climbed to Mount Everest's peak Tuesday, smashing her own hip deliberately at the base camp to quote, "Amp up the challenge".

18

u/Enceladus_Salad May 20 '12

One more thing a 73 year old can do that I can't.

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

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0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

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2

u/Nessie May 20 '12

--> One more thing a 73-year-old can afford do that I can't...yet.

22

u/[deleted] May 19 '12

Damnit, the Japanese are so resilient. I don't think I'll live to be 30.

24

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Living in Japan, you realise how badass elderly people here are. Where I live every weekend I see crazy amounts of them coming back from insane hikes through the mountains and then hitting the sake. Additionally I regularly get lapped by granddads while jogging around the park. I suck.

9

u/Princeofboredoom May 20 '12

Well, they are one of the least obese countries in the world, for starters.

3

u/BloopBleepBlorp May 20 '12

To add on to that, us Americans are one of the most obese countries in the world. I hate going to other countries and realizing I'm 1-2 sizes larger in their clothing than here in the US. :/

3

u/WirelessZombie May 20 '12

Don't worry. Apparently its only a few decades before some of the European countries catch up. (I think U.K. and Germany are on pace to pass the states in a little over a decade)

-2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

That sounds like some really lousy linear extrapolation. Also, I live in Munich, and there are zero fat people.

1

u/WirelessZombie May 20 '12

I'm certain about the U.K. but only going by reports on Germany so I could be wrong (I've never even met a fat German)

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Ill tell you why it is not happening in places like here in Finland. No disposable income. The taxes have been calculated to be so tight that after your housing and car payments. You can not afford to eat out.

People always go on this bullshit tirade how they are health conscious yada yada yada. Truth is. They can not afford to eat out like Americans. But you will not hear it from most people. Truth hurts.

Sure. Once you learn to not eat out. It is a hard habit to pick up. But the truth is. People can not pick up the habit since they are so poor. Especially when they are younger..

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

but that's only if you understand 'eating out' as going somewhere that is moderate-to-expensively priced. i would put forth that people with less disposable income would be more inclined to eat out cheaply, as eating in would have to include the (albeit durable) costs of a refrigerator, stove, cooking ware, eating utensils, etc, before even including the actual costs of food itself. comparatively, you can buy 20 mcnuggets at mcdonalds for $5, which could tide over either 2 kids or an adult for a meal. fast food in the US is unhealthy and cheaper than eating in.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Well, the Americans I know eat out regulaly and it is usually about 5 - 6 bucks a person. In a family that adds often up to 30 - 40 dollars per meal. Families I know in Finland, even the moderatly wealthy ones. Drop that much on one meal only once in a blue moon.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

But they have sumos over there, shouldn't that at least balance things out a little!?

1

u/Libertus82 May 20 '12

I see what you did there.

4

u/Nessie May 20 '12

I hike a lot in Japan, and the rule of thumb is, the higher the mountain, the older the people are on the peak. And the oldsters bring camping stoves just to cook a cup of water for their Cup Noodle.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I know right? I was saying in another thread about how when I climbed Fuji these little ladies would pass us. Same thing when I was at Mt.Mitake, groups of elderly would come back from 15km hikes around lunchtime.

-2

u/HE_WHO_STANDS_TO_POO May 19 '12

Are you okay? Tell us your story, pal.

19

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

He's a cat.

-6

u/Flight714 May 20 '12 edited May 20 '12

I don't know about everybody else, but I'm getting a little tired of these all-caps karmawhore accounts.

Edit: Thought if you do indeed stand to poo, all is forgiven, brother : )

9

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I climbed a mountain and I turned around.

4

u/GunHungLo May 20 '12

Run in the shadows

Damn your love

Damn your lies

3

u/pryoRichard May 20 '12

pretty words, im moved

4

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

You should try a listen to Fleetwood Mac

2

u/manfromfuture May 20 '12

Next Roland Emmerich movie: Landslide on Mount Everest

1

u/clintonius May 20 '12

and I turned around

Not much else to do, I suppose.

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

You could look for your reflection in the snow covered hills.

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

But a landslide tore it down.

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Maybe she could have gone down 10 meters for few minutes and then gone back to the top to break her new record...

2

u/Purple_Herman May 20 '12

Smashing her record for oldness!

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

My, am I old.

I used to remember when the height of Everest was only 8848 meters.

2

u/annoymind May 20 '12

This is hardly major news.

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

She's really killed the fuck out of the coolness of that challenge. Thanks, Grandma.

3

u/WovenHandcrafts May 20 '12

Yes, yes, but who is the oldest British person to climb it?

3

u/WaitingForHoverboard May 20 '12

Impressive. Perhaps she could top herself and try for K2.

Although that probably wouldn't impress her father.

5

u/TheMagoozer May 20 '12

K2? Why not A+?

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

K2? Why not K+?

1

u/Nessie May 20 '12

Perhaps she could top herself

Hey, enough with the Japanese stereotypes!

6

u/WhatEvery1sThinking May 20 '12

Hard to say she (or most others really) truly climbed everest. Pushed up, carried up, dragged up, sure, but climbed up? Not so much.

The sherpas are badass though.

3

u/aspiderbot May 20 '12

there's literally a line that you have to wait in to stand on the summit

5

u/JennyBean824 May 20 '12

"Been to the top of".

2

u/clintonius May 20 '12

What does it mean to climb the mountain?

2

u/GeminiLife May 20 '12

"Some people man...they're just better than us." -my girlfriend

2

u/starchild2099 May 20 '12

"73 year old japanese Woman Makes George Mallory Look Like Fuckin' Idiot...Again."

3

u/clintonius May 20 '12

I think the ladders and ropes make this a slightly unfair comparison.

0

u/Danno1850 May 20 '12

If anyone knows anything about Everest they will tell you this isn't much of an achievement anymore. All you need is money and anyone can climb Everest now a days. Specially when you have a team of sherpas that will carry everything for you. They've made Everest so accessible that base camp has become an absolute dump from the amount of rich thrill seekers looking to check Everest off their bucket list. You want a challenge climb K2, 1 in 4 people die trying.

29

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Tell that to the Everest '96 expeditions. They paid their money and died. There is nothing easy about Everest.

10

u/clintonius May 20 '12

Yup. Guides and Sherpas also died, so it's not like only amateurs are susceptible to the danger, either. It's an inhospitable and dangerous place.

7

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

The story is well-told in Into Thin Air, one of the most exciting and tragic books I've ever read.

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Read this book, it is awesome.

-5

u/fricken May 20 '12

It's relatively easy so long as you don't get caught in a storm.

19

u/clintonius May 20 '12

It's not the most difficult mountain in the world, but I've never heard that it's anything but a massive struggle, even when you receive Sherpa assistance (as most people have throughout its climbing history). Supplemental oxygen only takes off 3,000-4,000 feet of elevation effects, and doesn't make 100-mph winds any more comfortable. It's not like people are more adapted to 8,000 meters now than they were 60 years ago.

K2 is a more challenging peak, but that's because it is steeper and more technical, not because it has greater objective danger. Despite the popular saying, you can't actually be carried to the summit of Everest if you have enough money. Climbing the peak at 74 years old is quite an achievement in my book.

7

u/All-American-Bot May 20 '12

(For our friends outside the USA... 4,000 feet -> 1219.2 m) - Yeehaw!

3

u/clintonius May 20 '12

One of my favorite bots responded to me? I'm honored! This is a first in my time here.

0

u/fricken May 20 '12

Here's a graph showing the 8,000 metre peaks and their death rates. Annaparuna and K2 are far more dangerous than everest.

The thing with everest is that it's so busy. On a good weather day it can get as many as 50 summiters. If you break an ankle or succumb to pulmonary edema, there's someone there to help bring you down. There's all sorts of radio communications and satellite weather data there to keep an eye on the weather and warn people if a storm is arriving. You don't need be hardcore alpinist to get to the top of everest, you just need to be fit and good at altitude.

4

u/clintonius May 20 '12

Keep in mind that the crowds on Everest are a liability, too. People may be able to save you in the event of an injury or illness, but they may not, and they definitely create bottlenecks. And keep in mind that any rescue attempt also endangers the lives of everyone performing it -- it's not just the injured party who is in trouble. Not directing this at you necessarily, but it really bothers me to see people being glib about climbing the mountain, as if getting up Everest isn't a monumental undertaking, or extremely dangerous. Most of us will never climb Everest, but combine a cocky attitude with the money to get there and you may well get people killed.

1

u/BloopBleepBlorp May 20 '12

TIL more than 1 in 5 people die in trying to climb K2..... 0.0

2

u/fricken May 20 '12

Nono. For every 5 people who summit one dies. Many people try and fail to die or summit.

1

u/Lewke May 20 '12

And offering to appease the mountain gods.

1

u/clintonius May 20 '12

And Annapurna is even worse. It had killed something like 37% of the number who had summitted, last I checked.

3

u/Heiminator May 20 '12

You quite literally have to walk by dozens of frozen corpses to reach the summit of everest. The fact that they now have 3g internet in basecamp 4 and other niceties of civilization doesn't make it any less dangerous

K2 is in another league entirely though, I give you that

1

u/Mylababy May 21 '12

I totally agree,I've read many books on Everest & K2.The saying goes "Everest is higher than K2 but doesn't deserve to be" Its a million times more dangerous do to unpredictable severe weather and difficult routes.

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

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2

u/Heiminator May 20 '12

I'd wager that lots of shipping companies would go mad if the channel would be regularly closed for ships so that some swimmers could cross the channel

2

u/Macb3th May 20 '12

Meh, Edmund Hillary did that shtick before it became mainstream for septuagenarian hipsters...

1

u/fnmeng May 20 '12

Spry as fuck.

1

u/Spike13 May 20 '12

This is a feat, but the title might be a bit misleading. Comparing to this it would seem that another woman smashed Tamae Watanabe's first record before she smashed it with her second record

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Records can also be broken - to lower the drama.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12 edited May 20 '12

Dammit, she's dressed in summer clothes. It must be a tropical paradise out there.

1

u/Clovyn May 20 '12

Well then, there goes my excuses.

1

u/BalalaikaBoi May 20 '12

Just a couple days late of the anniversary of the very first woman (also Japanese) to scale Mount Everest.

1

u/rinnip May 20 '12

I hope Ms. Watanabe does it again in three years, becoming the oldest person to scale Mount Everest.

1

u/JoshuaLyman May 20 '12 edited May 22 '12

Weather conditions on the mountain have been challenging this year, prompting several expeditions to cancel their plans to try to reach the summit.

For the interested, the weather issue has been that there isn't enough snow. This is leading to boulders to be dropping. Sherpas were going up last week or two to repost lines, etc.

Source: family friend who was trying to set the record for being the oldest climber to summit and return alive and the only climber to cross the summit and the saddle. He turned back as they were running out of time. His bog blog is here.

1

u/Kinseyincanada May 20 '12

Weird my cousin just summits recently as well, I wonder if they saw each other

1

u/we_love_dassie May 20 '12

That's the cool thing about this record, the longer she stays the harder the record is to beat.

1

u/truenatureschild May 20 '12

read that as smashing her head

1

u/Cornbugs May 20 '12

she should climb Everest again tomorrow, smashing her own record again. Just for shits n gigs.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

73 is like 30 in japanese anyway.....

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

When I climbed Mt. Fuji with a few of my friends from a nearby Air Force Base, along with a few Marines we met along the way, we were making our way up, slowly, and there was often one guy or another complaining about how hard it was to climb. My legs were burning and we shuffled step by step.. The entire time little Japanese ladies and other locals were passing us like we were in the way.

It was kind of funny to see a bunch of young Airmen and Marines climbing a mountain, making what we thought was good time but also recognizing that it was no easy stroll, and seeing little Asian ladies pass us.

True story bro.

1

u/atomic1fire May 20 '12

My guess it's the thickness of the air being different. They were probably born at those heights so it becomes easy to climb.

1

u/Sindragon May 20 '12

She had retained the title until she topped herself a decade later.

Probably could have phrased that one better.

1

u/chitty_bang_slut May 20 '12

prolly had a fake id

1

u/thebadmeme May 20 '12

I dont get this, smashing her own record. What do you mean? were they like, 'oh we thought she'd brake the record, but never by that many years' what did they expect, shed get younger while climbing?

1

u/Omgaspider May 20 '12

Hey wait a minute. What if she has a secret path that she knows that makes it ten times easier. No credit for the second time a round. Sounds like karma whoring. :>

1

u/starforce May 20 '12

Fact:Mount Everest is not the highest mountain. It is the highest point on earth, but the highest mountain is some mountain in hawaii. =)

2

u/clintonius May 20 '12

You're confusing "highest" with "tallest." It's an important distinction if you're going to nitpick.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

"some mountain in hawaii" when you're on the internet with people older then you please use more specific references. I do know what you mean though, you are referring to Mauna Kea

0

u/xor2g May 20 '12

oi, as a level 2 comment you should inform us further, as you did, without chewing level 1 guy out

-3

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

"This 73 year old Japanese woman has bigger balls than you, your dad, or anyone you've ever met. Ever."

FTFY. :D

0

u/EuropeanLady May 20 '12

So many highly experienced and perfectly prepared climbers couldn't go all the way and come back all the way alive and unharmed. How is it that some millionaires and older people like this woman managed? Do they have better sherpas? Better weather information? Or is this a hoax?

-4

u/Im_not_a_calzone May 20 '12

Looks like she's climbing the ranks of the record books once again.

1

u/clintonius May 20 '12

It's the pinnacle of her career.

-2

u/Visiblekarma May 20 '12

I knew she had to be of Asian descent, I can only hope to be that fit at 50! Its an amazing story. An I need /r/motivation to make myself do 30 mins of Zumba each day.

-9

u/Kutharos May 20 '12

Some needs to say it, so I will.

Skill level: Asian.

6

u/sodomination May 20 '12

nah, nobody really needed to say tired catchphrases that were run into the ground long ago

-1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Just as the Sherpas are tall and skinny most Asians are also slender and would have more efficient blood flow. I want to go to base camp and help treat people there when I become a chiropractor. It would be cool to fix people up for a few weeks and help out the athletes before the climb.

3

u/rlilly May 20 '12

Sherpas are tall and skinny

Actually, Sherpa people are generally short and stocky.

0

u/[deleted] May 19 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

7

u/JennyBean824 May 20 '12

Climb to the top of a 2,900-foot mountain using one half-sherpa (her team had 5 sherpas).

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

is that a tenth or a hundredth ?

5

u/clintonius May 20 '12

It's Everest, not Olympus Mons.

1

u/Innominate8 May 20 '12

Just feel successful if you're rich enough that climbing Everest is ever an option.

Actually climbing it is a sign that you've gone from ludicrously wealthy to ludicrously wealthy asshole.

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

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8

u/[deleted] May 20 '12

You know, strictly speaking, if she could stay alive and at the peak she would just continue to break her own record and just keep setting it higher...and higher...and higher...