LONDON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Schoolboy climber Edward Mills, aged 8, has become the youngest person ever to scale a famous rocky column in Scotland known as the Old Man of Hoy.
The boy set himself the task to help raise money for the charity Climbers Against Cancer in honor of his mom Bekki Christian who has terminal breast cancer.
Edward, from Caithness in the Scottish Highlands, told local media the ascent to the top of the 140-meter high column was quite scary.
His mom sailed to the Orkney Islands on a ferry to watch her son's climbing feat, with the ferry blasting its horn when the boy reached the summit.
The boy left a message in a hidden box at the top of the structure, with the words "Mums gift to Climbers Against Cancer".
He told local media that in a story book left at the summit he said he climbed the sea stack for his mom and raised money for Climbers Against Cancer.
"I hope other people will read this book and think of their own ideas about what they might say," the boy said.
Edward started climbing when he was about two years old.
His mom told the BBC in Scotland she was very proud of him of her son, adding: He climbed every move himself."
Edward's dad, Nathan Mills posted on social media: "He did it. He is absolutely delighted.
The boy completed the ascent on Friday afternoon, coached by climbers Ben West and Cailean Harker.
The Old Man of Hoy is a sea stack on the island of Hoy which is part of the Orkney archipelago off the north coast of Scotland. It is one of the tallest stacks in Britain and is popular with climbers, and was first scaled in 1966.
Geologists say it was created by the erosion of a cliff around 1750 and may eventually collapse into the sea.
