Japanese man beats his own record as oldest person to summit Mount Fuji, at 102, after heart failure

A 102-year-old man has become the oldest person to climb Mount Fuji , according to Guinness World Records . Kokichi Akuzawa climbed his country's tallest peak, reaching the summit at 12,388 feet, on Aug. 5. In doing so he surpassed the previous record, which he set himself when he summited Mount Fuji at the age of 96.

Akuzawa used the Yoshida route, which has an elevation gain of approximately 4,922 feet and typically takes experienced mountaineers around six hours to complete.

Given his age, he spread the climb across three days and two nights. Preparing for the ascent was no easy feat for the centenarian, who survived a fall, a case of shingles and was hospitalized with heart failure earlier in the year.

At 102 years and 51 days old, Kokichi Akuzawa of Japan has become the oldes