Body believed to be of missing mountaineer found near Taal Lake

(Updated April 14, 10:14 a.m.) He climbed the mountain because he could. But his mountaineer friends can only speculate why the missing mountaineer Victor Joel Ayson would climb Mount Maculot in Batangas alone on Easter Sunday. On Saturday, after a two-week search, the body of a man believed to be Ayson was found near the shores of Taal Lake, just below a prominent cliff on Maculot called the Rockies, well-known to climbers and a visible feature of Mount Maculot from many angles. The body was found on Ayson's 27th birthday. GMA's "Flash Report" said mountain residents found the body Saturday afternoon. Teams of mountaineers, many of whom were Ayson's friends, had missed the vegetated spot during days of searching. Ayson was last seen buying a bottle of mineral water at a store on the mountain, earlier reports said. In a separate story on GMA's "24 Oras", reporter Jay Sabale said that the body was found in the lower portion of Mt. Maculot's "Rockies," described as a dangerous part of the mountain. “Realizing that he was already in Batangas in an opportune time to reach Cuenca before the sun was up, he decided to climb Maculot anew. He went up the Rockies, took pictures of Taal Lake in early morning,” the mountaineering website also said. “Then the most unexpected and unfortunate thing happened: he disappeared, seemingly without a trace, leaving his backpack unclaimed at the jumpoff of the mountain.”