Hamish MacInnes: Why we should all try to be more like this Scottish mountaineering legend – Scotsman comment

Hamish MacInnes, who has died at the age of 90, was one of the world’s greatest mountaineers.

Doug Scott and Hamish MacInnes in an icefall on Mount Everest (Picture: PA)

MacInnes, partly taught to climb by “pretty tough blokes from the [Glasgow] shipyards”, went on four expeditions to Mount Everest and had hopes of making the first-ever summit. But when he and a friend arrived at base camp in 1953 – without proper permission, visas or money and a vague plan to live off food left by a Swiss expedition the previous year – they were met by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who had just beaten them to it.

He was dubbed the 'Father of Scottish Mountain Rescue', writing a definitive guide on the subject, leading the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, and inventing a light-weight stretcher still used today. Former RAF Kinloss team leader David Whalley said: “The [number of] people he must have saved over the years because of his work in mountain rescue and the stretchers he invented must be incredible – he has left a wonderful legacy.” In footballing terms, Whalley said he was “Lionel Messi”.

Michael Palin spoke of his “great sense of humour”, which made an impression on the Monty Python team during filming in Glencoe. "He... was wonderfully eccentric, which was just what we wanted and he helped us on the film [Holy Grail],” Palin said.

Andy Nelson, current leader of Glencoe MRT, also described MacInnes as a “very kind man” who was “tenacious and uncomplaining”.

If only more people had such qualities – humour, kindness, tenacity and grit – they would doubtless be happier and might just achieve half of what Hamish MacInnes did in his extraordinary life.

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