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Sir Ranulph conquers highest mountain in Antarctica

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is celebrating his successful summit of Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

The 72-year-old explorer and his expedition team had to wait out a storm with winds up to 100 mph (161 km/h), the highest ever recorded on the mountain, before making a push for the 16,050ft (4,892m) summit.

Armed with two robust IsatPhone 2 satellite phones and IsatHub, Inmarsat’s smart device connectivity service, the climbers were able to keep in touch with the rest of the support team as they made their interrupted ascent, and transmit photos.

Live broadcasts

Fieldcraft Studios, a production company filming his endeavour, have also been making good use of BGAN HDR for live broadcasts on the BBC.

“It has been very demanding for me at this age and not something that I take lightly at all,” said Sir Ranulph, who is raising money for Marie Curie through the Global Reach Challenge, which will see him attempt to become the first person to cross both polar ice caps and climb the highest mountain on every continent.

To succeed, he still needs to climb Aconcagua in Argentina, Mount Carstensz in New Guinea, and Denali, the highest peak in North America and one of the world’s most dangerous and difficult mountains to climb.

Sir Ranulph has already reached the North and South Poles by crossing the Antarctic continent and the Arctic Ocean (1982), and climbed Mount Everest in Asia (2009), Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa (2004) and Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, in June this year.