July 2005

Alaska - This summer, 74-year-old Sadao Hoshiko of Oitashi, Japan, became the oldest person to successfully summit Mt. McKinley, North America’s highest peak at 20,320 feet. Hoshiko and the five other members of the Mountain Gorilla 2005 expedition, all younger men, made it from the High Camp at 17,200 feet to the summit in around 10 hours of climbing in blizzard conditions.

This was better than the average time, which takes teams anywhere from 8-24 hours. Hoshiko sustained some minor frostbite on the tip of his nose, but was otherwise none the worse for his stay on the mountain. He has been climbing since he was 20 years old, and has scaled mountains all over the world. The previous record holder was Mario Locatelli, of Montana, who summited in 2004 at the age of 71.