Yūichirō Miura

Miura was born in Aomori City in the northernmost Tōhoku region of northeast Japan on October 12, 1932. His father, Keizo Miura, was a Japanese skier who worked as a forester. Miura was exposed to snow sports from the time he was a child and competed in his first skiing competition during his second grade year of elementary school. He won his first title at a ski competition held at Mount Iwaki while attending Aomori Junior High School. While attending Aomori Prefectural Hirosaki High School, he won a prize in downhill skiing at the and won the individual championship at the Aomori Prefectural High School Ski Championships three years in a row. Around the same time, he also placed second in the prefecture's ski jumping competition, despite it being his first time jumping on borrowed skis. He graduated from Aomori Prefectural Hirosaki High School. He moved south with his family but found that he missed the snow and winter sports, prompting him to enroll at Hokkaido University. While at Hokkaido University, he met his wife Tomoko who was a secretary to the university president and an alpine skier. At the All Japan Ski Championships he got into a fight with officials over the number of participants from Aomori and was banned from competing under amateur status permanently, so he became a professional skier at age 26. Just after losing his amateur status, he worked as a porter at Mount Tateyama in the Hida Mountains of the northern Japanese Alps. == Alpine career ==

, Aoraki / Mount Cook (August 1966). Miura opened a ski school in the early 1960s. In 1966 he was invited to the Tasman Glacier in New Zealand, where he met Edmund Hillary. Other peaks Miura skied or climbed include Mount Kosciuszko - Australia's highest peak, Denali - North America's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro - the highest mountain in Africa, Vinson Massif - in Antarctica, Mount Elbrus - Europe's highest mountain, and Aconcagua - the highest peak in the Americas and the highest outside of Asia, completing descents of the Seven Summits. and for the last time at the age of 80 on May 23, 2013, again with Gota, despite having broken five bones in his pelvis at age 76 in a skiing accident in 2009, as well as four operations for arrhythmia since 2008. Gota is a freestyle skier and alpinist who competed at the Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994 and Nagano in 1998. Even though he was unable to complete the descent after reaching the top, and was airlifted from Advanced Base Camp at 6500 meters rather than descending to the Base Camp at , Famous alpinists, however, like Ken Noguchi, dispute Miura's achievement, arguing that a climb can not be called "complete" unless one walks all the way down the mountain. In 2019 he tried to conqueer Aconcagua again, but had to give up because of poor health. Miura had several medical issues in the 2019–2020 timeframe: a lacunar cerebral infarct in April 2019, a cervical epidural hematoma in June 2020, and pacemaker surgery in July 2020. Despite his medical situation, in late August 2023, aged 90, Miura reached the summit of Mount Fuji with the aid of a specially designed wheelchair. Miura was in competition with Nepalese climber Min Bahadur Sherchan. Sherchan, at age 81 in 2013, tried to break the eldest Everest climber record but gave up. He tried again at age 85 in 2017 but died at the Everest Base Camp. Sherchan had previously earned the title of eldest Everest climber at age 76, having earned it on May 25, 2008, the day before Miura summited Everest the second time, at age 75. The oldest woman to summit Everest is also Japanese, Tamae Watanabe; first doing so at age 63 in 2002. Like Miura, she broke her own record, at age 73 in 2012. Recognition (at the Central Government Building No.5 in November 2007) After his third summit of Everest, the Japanese government named an award after him, the Miura Award. It is for those who "challenge themselves to the limits of human potential." In 2013, Miura received the 8th for outstanding achievement is skiing and mountaineering. In July 2018 he was in the first group of people to receive the Nepal Social Contributor Award; which honors Japanese people who have contributed to Nepal. == Other activities ==

Miura has been involved in many activities outside of skiing and mountaineering. He makes more than 30 appearances monthly, according to his daughter Emiri. He is the representative director of the Miura Dolphins, a company that handles his work, media, and expeditions. Miura is also representative director of Miura Yuichiro Office Company, chairman of the National Forest Recreation Association, chairman of the NPO Global Sports Alliance, former member of the Ministry of Transport's Road Regulations Review Committee, and former member of the Prime Minister's Office Youth Affairs Council. ==See also==