Vinson Massif Bows Before 71-Year-Old Japanese Climber

Seems that nothing special and newsworthy, since high mountains are always being climbed by mountaineers. However, the thing is that Vinson Massif is in Antarctica and Tomiyasu Ishikawa is 71 years old.

Once reaching at the summit of mount Vinson Massif, Tomiyasu Ishikawa, of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, called his wife Masako, 71, on Sunday to tell her he had reached the summit of the 4,897-meter mountain on Jan. 21.

Ishikawa started climbing mountains in the Himalayas 20 years ago, when he was running a sports shop. In 1994, he scaled Mt. Everest to become, at age 57, the oldest Japanese at the time to stand atop the 8,848-meter mountain.

In 2002, Ishikawa, then 65, reached the summit of Mt. Everest using the Northeast Ridge from Tibet, becoming the oldest climber to conquer the world's highest mountain via this route.

Ishikawa lost two fingers due to frostbite while making his way up Alaska's 6,194-meter Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. By this time, he had scaled the tallest peaks on all continents, except for Vinson Massif.

But earlier this month, Ishikawa completed his spectacular mountaineering feet.

Below is a video showing how other people climb Vinson Massif in Antarctica.