KUALA LUMPUR: At 9.17am Nepal time (11.32am Malaysian time) on May 12, N. Elanghovan stood "on top of the world", highly elated that he had reached the summit of Mt Everest and that he was the oldest Malaysian to do so.
For the 64-year-old Tenaga Nasional Berhad retiree, it was "a mission accomplished" as he had set himself the goal of climbing the world's highest mountain after setting foot on the Everest Base Camp in 2014.
"Standing on top of the world is hard to describe in words. It was truly a 'top-of-the-world feeling' of realising my dream. All the hard work I put in and the sacrifices I made paid off," Elanghovan, fondly known as Elango, told Bernama.
He proudly showed a certificate dated June 14, 2022, issued by the Department of Tourism of Nepal's Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, verifying his climb to the top of the 8,849-metre-high mountain.
Elango duly submitted a request for his feat to be included in the Malaysia Book of Records (MBOR). In an e-mail reply dated June 21, MBOR informed him that its panel of judges had given the green light for him to be listed as the oldest Malaysian to scale Mt Everest at the age of 64.
The previous record holder in that category was the late Idris Said of Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM).
Idris was a member of the Persatuan Kembara Negara (PKN) Everest expedition in 2007 and achieved the feat at the age of 52. He died on Jan 1, 2017.
Elango was part of a three-man expedition team which included T. Ravichandran, 57, better known as Ravi Everest. The third climber in the team was United States-based Indian national Sidharth Routray, 40. All three reached the majestic Everest peak.
Asked about his next mission, Elango said he plans to scale the G7 – seven summits in seven continents – in his attempt to conquer all the highest peaks in the seven continents.
With Mt Everest in Asia and Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa (5,895 metres), which he scaled in August 2016, already in the bag, he intends to climb Mt Aconcagua (6,961 metres) in Argentina, South America; Mt Denali (6,194 metres) in Alaska, North America; Mt Elbrus (5,642 metres) in Russia, Europe; Mt Vinson Massif (4,892 metres) in Antarctica and Mt Kosciuszko (2,228 metres) in Australia.--BERNAMA