KATHMANDU, Nepal: A brief improvement in weather conditions has allowed the oldest person to climb Mount Everest to leave the mountain on a helicopter.

The aircraft picked up 80-year-old Yuichiro Miura at Camp 2 and flew him to the base camp and then to Kathmandu on Sunday.

He had initially planned to leave the mountain on Saturday but poor visibility and bad weather conditions forced the cancellation of the helicopter flight.

The weather improved briefly on Sunday, allowing the flight. Miura, a Japanese former extreme skier, told reporters at Kathmandu's airport that he was happy to have set a new record for oldest climber.

He scaled the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak on Thursday. A competitor, Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, 81, is still on the mountain hoping to break Miura's record.