Age doesn’t matter when you have a passion to succeed. Min Bahadur Sherchan, 86, is living proof of that.

On Monday, Sherchan announced that he would be making another attempt to scale Mt Everest to try to reclaim the title of the oldest man to climb the world’s tallest peak.

He will begin his journey on April 1. “Don’t’ worry. I’ll not die,” he told a press meet. “I will return and return successfully.”

Sherchan said that his mission to climb Everest this year was to spread the message of world peace. Besides, he wants to put his name back in the Guinness World Records as the oldest man to climb Everest.

Sherchan stepped atop the summit of Everest in May 2008 when he was 76 years and 340 days old. He was officially recognised as the oldest person to climb the peak by Guinness World Records in November 2009, replacing previous record holder Japanese Yuichiro Miura.

Miura first climbed the peak in 2003 at the age of 70. He climbed Everest again in May 2008 when he was 75, but he did not set a record as he reached the summit a day after Sherchan achieved the feat at 76.

In 2013, Miura snatched the record back from Sherchan by stepping on the summit at the age of 80. When Miura announced that he would be climbing Everest, it had come as a shock to Sherchan who though the record was his for keeps.

Sherchan appealed to the government for financial support as he would be needing more than Rs1.5 million for his month-long Everest expedition. His application lay immobile at the Cabinet, but he vowed to keep climbing.

Avalanches in 2014 and earthquakes in 2015 forced Sherchan to put his plan on hold. He obtained a permit to climb Everest in 2015. Last year, he was unable to find a sponsor.

Meanwhile, Miura has announced that he will be mounting a fourth expedition to Everest when he is 90. “The dream to climb Everest at the age of 90, in 2022, may be a necessity to keep hold of the record,” he told the Daily Telegraph last year. 

Sherchan’s 2017 spring expedition will be sponsored by the Non-Resident Nepali Association United Kingdom and Thakali and Magar community organizations in the UK. “The estimated cost of Sherchan’s expedition is Rs9.5 million,” said Jeet Bahadur Gharti Magar, a former British Gurkha soldier. 

Summit Nepal Trekking will be handling Sherchan’s Everest bid this year. “He will be supported by six high-altitude climbing guides,” said Shiva Raj Thapa, managing director of Summit Nepal Trekking.

The company will also be handling an Everest expedition of the Brigade of Gurkhas. The team consists of 20 Gurkha and eight British soldiers.

Sherchan was born on June 20, 1931 at Bhurung-9 in Myagdi district.