70-year-old Japanese scales Mount Everest

Japan's Kyodo News agency quoted the company, Adventure Guides, as saying Takao Arayama, age 70 years, 7 months and 13 days, was the oldest person ever to scale the mountain's 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak.

Photo: 70-year-old Japanese scales Mount Everest

Guinness World Records Web site says the record has been held by another Japanese, Yuichiro Miura, who reached the famed peak at 70 years, 7 months and 10 days, on May 22, 2003.

Arayama, who climbed the mountain as part of a five-member team, reached the summit Wednesday morning, Kyodo said. He is a corporate management consultant from Kamakura, near Tokyo, according to the report.

Adventure Guides could not be reached Wednesday night for comment. There was no way to immediately confirm any details of the report.

Kate White, a spokeswoman for London-based Guinness World Records, said Wednesday, "We have not had any report of this record. If he (Arayama) is older, we would look forward to announcing a new Guinness World Record.

In order to do so, she said they would need his birth certificate, photographs, witness statements and a log book of his climb, the AP reports.