Nepalese climber Min Bahadur Sherchan says scaling the highest mountain in the world at the age of 77 was "no problem."
It was only when he tried to register his claim to be the oldest man to have reached the summit of Mount Everest with Guinness World Records that his troubles began.
Sherchan, now 78, lost out on the record to a younger climber in February this year because he failed to provide the organisation with the correct documentation to back his claim.
Now he is hoping to claim the title he says is rightfully his.
"I had no problems at all during my ascent. But afterwards, when I tried to register for the Guinness World Record, it was a different story," he told AFP on Wednesday.
"We sent all the documents, including award certificates and a letter of congratulation from the government. They replied saying they had received our package and we thought that was that. We did not know the process."
Sherchan later learned he had not sent in enough proof.
As a result, Guinness World Records gave the record to Japanese mountaineer Yuichiro Miura, who reached the summit last year at the age of 75 despite having undergone two heart operations.
A veteran climber, Miura was the first person to ski down Everest's South Col in 1970 -- a feat immortalised in an Oscar-winning documentary.
Sherchan said he was now hoping to win official recognition of his achievement in the coming weeks after providing further evidence.
"We had to fill in forms and personally claim the record with the necessary evidence to prove that I made it to the top of Everest," he said.
"But now we have done it, and I am expecting the official recognition from Guinness within one-and-a-half months. The process has reached its final leg."
Since it was first conquered in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) mountain has been climbed successfully more than 3,000 times.
Sherchan reached the top on May 25, 2008 -- a day before his Japanese rival.
Copyright 2009 AFP South Asian Edition
