HE is regarded as the father of Scottish mountaineering and counts Michael Palin as a personal friend.
Hamish MacInnes, who is revered by rescue crews worldwide for his life-saving climbing innovations, reached another milestone in his remarkable legacy as he celebrated his 90th birthday.
Glencoe Mountain Rescue (GMR) helped arrange a surprise celebration for the hardy nonagenarian who was once described as being “as tough and uncompromising as one of his own mountains”.
The adventurer was team leader from 1961 when the voluntary rescue service was founded, up until around 1995.
Andy Nelson, team leader of GMR, gathered volunteers past and present for a small socially-distanced celebration on Tuesday outside his Highland home, close to Glencoe village, complete with a hill-shaped cake.
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Mr Nelson said: “Two of the ladies who go in every day to deliver meals to Hamish decided to arrange a little celebration for him and spoke to us about getting a few of the team together.
“We gathered several good friends and former Glencoe MR members including John Grieve, Ian Nicolson, and Wall Thompson, all climbers who have etched a pioneering line in Scotland’s rich climbing history. Thankfully the weather behaved.
“He is still as sharp as a pin, his memory is fantastic. He’s able to spin yarns from rescues decades ago.”
Born in Kirkcudbrightshire in Galloway in 1930, Mr MacInnes made the first winter ascent of Crowberry Ridge Direct and of Raven’s Gully on Buachaille Etive Mòr with Chris Bonington in 1953.
He went on to lead and take part in 20 expeditions worldwide , including four to Mount Everest, almost losing his life in an avalanche in 1975, when he was deputy leader in Chris Bonington’s record-breaking mission to climb the south west face.
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The adventurer is recognised as having developed modern mountain rescue in Scotland, setting up the Search and Rescue Dog Association and the Avalanche Information Service, and inventing the MacInnes stretcher, which is used for rescues worldwide.
Last year, he became the subject of a documentary, The Final Ascent, narrated by Michael Palin and the two became close friends. The mountaineer told how he willed himself back to health after a difficult few years when he was sectioned and lost his memory.
Thought to be dementia, his poor health was actually due to a urinary tract infection. He continues to write on the subject of mountaineering safety and has published more than
40 books.
Mr Nelson said: “Some of his stories are quite remarkable, positioning cameras in places that are quite tenuous.
“Hamish did a lot of safety work for big films including The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood, that was the very famous one, as well as the Highlander series with Sean Connery.
“The was quite a strong thread in his life. When there was a live broadcast of the climb of the Old Man of Hoy, Hamish did all the safety equipment for that.
“Not only was he a great pioneer in the 1950s, 60s and 70s but he was
also a strong figurehead, going to some pretty far flung places and
flying the flag for Scottish mountaineering.
READ MORE: Final Ascent: The Legend of Hamish MacInnes
“There were also his innovations around climbing equipment – he created the world’s first all-metal ice axe.
“Prior to that they were wooden handled and quite often there were really bad accidents when they snapped. So, a great innovator and a great engineer.
“He has a brother, who is around 95 or 96 so there is some strong genetic resilience going on there.”
Mr Nelson said the Glencoe area is starting to see increasing numbers of climbers after lockdown distance restrictions were eased for leisure activities but said, thankfully, so far, the call-outs have been quiet.
He said: “Everybody is quite excited when they see each other on the mountains and it’s almost like a bit of a re-union, which is great.”
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