A 71-year-old Japanese man has become the oldest person to climb Mount Everest, the Kyodo Tsusin news agency said Tuesday. 

Katsusuke Yanagisawa started his long climb in Tibet on April 8 successfully reaching the 8,850 meters (29,050 feet) high summit on April 22, he completed his descent from the world's highest mountain Tuesday. 

Yanagisawa said he was glad that he made it, adding that the support of his friends had been a great help to him.

The previous record belonged to 70-year-old Takao Arayama, also from Japan. 

The new record holder was born March 20, 1936 and first became interested in mountaineering 50 years ago. Last year he successfully scaled the 8,201 meter-high (26,906 feet) Mount Cho Oyu in the Himalayas.

Mount Everest located on the Chinese-Nepalese border in the Himalayas claimed the lives of 203 people by the end of 2006, with more than 2,000 people successfully reaching the summit.