Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, 90, reached the top of Mount Fuji on Thursday with a group of friends and family members after a three-day climb in a wheelchair, Kyodo news agency reported, citing Agerpres.

Yuichiro Miura reached the top of Mount Fuji around 07:20 local time and thanked those who supported him.

Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak at 3,776 meters, is a popular tourist destination, but few young people attempt to climb it.

This success came after some health problems that the climber faced in recent years. In June 2020, Miura, then 87, was hospitalized for about eight months to treat a spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma that compressed nerves in his neck and caused paralysis in his arms and legs.

The climber, who in 2013 became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest at the age of 80, dreamed of climbing Mount Fuji as a means of rehabilitation.

“Thank you all. I was able to fulfill my wish to reach the top. It’s great,” he said.

The Japanese climber was accompanied by 40 students of the school of which he is the honorary director

In his specially designed climbing wheelchair, Miura began the final part of the climb on Thursday around 05:15 local time. With the help of his group, who lifted his chair, he reached the summit after about two hours.

“I managed to climb with cheerful companions. The spectacle was so stunning that I will never forget it,” he admitted.

About 40 students from Clark Memorial International High School, where Miura is principal emeritus, greeted the climber upon his arrival at the summit. The mountaineer is famous for skiing down Mount Fuji in 1966 with the help of a parachute that slowed his slide.

In 2003, 2008 and 2013 – at the age of 70, 75 and 80 respectively – Miura successfully climbed to the top of Everest, located at an altitude of 8848 meters.

The oldest person to reach the summit of Mount Fuji is Teiichi Igarashi, who was 101 years and 10 months old at the time of the feat in 1988, according to Japan’s national record keeping association.