1. Hamish MacInnes has been described as the "father of modern mountain rescue in Scotland".
35 Facts About Hamish MacInnes
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Hamish MacInnes is credited with inventing the first all-metal ice-axe and an eponymous lightweight foldable alloy stretcher called MacInnes stretcher, widely used in mountain and helicopter rescue.
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Hamish MacInnes was a mountain safety advisor to a number of major films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Eiger Sanction and The Mission.
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Hamish MacInnes had three sisters and a brother who was eighteen years older than Hamish.
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Hamish MacInnes's father served in the Chinese police in Shanghai, then returned to join the British Army and the Canadian Army during World War I He had served with National service, shortly after the Second World War, with a deployment in Austria.
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Hamish MacInnes was exposed to mountaineering at a very early age and by the age of 16, he had already climbed the Matterhorn.
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Hamish MacInnes had built a motor car from scratch at the age of 17.
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Hamish MacInnes first climbed in the Himalaya in 1953, when he was 23: he planned an attempt to scale Mount Everest with his friend John Crabbe Cunningham, but before they left New Zealand they learnt Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had scaled the mountain.
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Hamish MacInnes went on to complete the first winter ascent of Crowberry Ridge Direct and of Raven's Gully on Buachaille Etive Mor in the Scottish Highlands, with Chris Bonington in 1953.
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Hamish MacInnes was a part of the group that scaled the Bonatti Pillar on the Aiguille du Dru, a mountain on the Mont Blanc massif of the French Alps.
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Hamish MacInnes performed this feat with a fractured skull, which he suffered after being hit by a rockfall.
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Hamish MacInnes is noted for bringing many innovations to mountaineering equipment, including designing the first all-metal ice axe.
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Hamish MacInnes is credited with introducing the short ice axe and hammer with inclined picks for Scottish winter work in the early 1960s.
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Hamish MacInnes pioneered the exploration of the Glencoe cliffs for winter work with the Glencoe School of Winter Climbing and led the area's mountain rescue team from 1961.
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Hamish MacInnes is recognised as having developed modern mountain rescue in Scotland.
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Hamish MacInnes was one of the co-founders the Scottish Avalanche Information Service in 1988.
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Hamish MacInnes invented the eponymous MacInnes stretcher, a lightweight and specialised folding alloy stretcher, which is used for rescues worldwide.
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In 1975, Hamish MacInnes was deputy leader to Bonington's Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition, which included Dougal Haston and Doug Scott.
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Hamish MacInnes had been tasked with designing equipment for that expedition but after being caught in an avalanche high on the mountain was unable to continue.
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Hamish MacInnes went on to scale the overhanging prow of Mount Roraima in the mountainous regions around Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana.
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Hamish MacInnes joined forces with Tom Patey to make the first winter traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye.
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Hamish MacInnes was involved with a number of films, as climber, climbing double and safety officer, including The Eiger Sanction and The Mission.
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Hamish MacInnes worked on the 1975 film The Eiger Sanction and the 1986 film The Mission.
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Hamish MacInnes was part of the production team for the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
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Hamish MacInnes served as mountaineering consultant, built the film's "bridge of death" and became friends with star Michael Palin.
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Hamish MacInnes wrote many books on mountaineering, having first written a paperback for the Scottish Youth Hostel Association in 1960.
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Hamish MacInnes's works include the International Mountain Rescue Handbook, which is regarded as the standard manual worldwide in the mountain search and rescue discipline, and Call-out: A climber's tales of mountain rescue in Scotland, his account of his experiences leading the Glencoe Rescue team.
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In 1994 Hamish MacInnes resigned his position as leader of the Glencoe Mountain Rescue team, over a decision taken by his colleagues to let the BBC make a documentary based on their work.
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Hamish MacInnes was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 1962 New Year Honours.
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Hamish MacInnes was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to mountaineering and mountain rescue in Scotland in the 1979 New Year Honours.
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Hamish MacInnes received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1992, University of Stirling in 1997 and University of Dundee in 2004.
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Hamish MacInnes was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and received the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture in 2008.
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Hamish MacInnes was sectioned into Belford psychiatric hospital in the Scottish Highlands.
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Hamish MacInnes recovered, though he lost memories of his adventuring career that he sought to rebuild by reading his accounts of them.
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Hamish MacInnes died on 22 November 2020, aged 90, at his home in Glen Coe.