Hamish MacInnes

(born 1930) is a Scottish mountaineer, leading mountain search and rescuer, author and advisor. He is the leading Scottish winter mountaineer of the generation following W. H. Murray. MacInnes was born in Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland in 1930. He made the first winter ascent of Crowberry Ridge Direct and of Raven's Gully on Buachaille Etive Mòr with Chris Bonington in 1953.

 

He designed the first all-metal ice axe, and is credited with introducing the short ice axe and hammer with inclined picks for Scottish winter work in the early 1960s. He pioneered the exploration of the Glencoe cliffs for winter work with the Glencoe School of Winter Climbing and for many years led the area's Mountain Rescue team. He 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.

 

In 1975, MacInnes was deputy leader to Bonington's Everest expedition, which included Dougal Haston and Doug Scott. Although never an official member, MacInnes climbed extensively with the Creag Dhu, the notorious Glasgow-based climbing club as well as with the rival Aberdeen clubs and joined forces with Tom Patey to make the first winter traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye. MacInnes is known as the "Fox of Glencoe" for his cunning as a mountaineer.

 

He was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and received the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture in 2008. He has been involved with a number of films, as climber, climbing double and safety officer, including The Eiger Sanction and The Mission, and has written numerous books on mountaineering, including the International Mountain Rescue Handbook (1972), regarded as the standard manual worldwide, and Callout (1973), his classic account of his experiences leading the Glencoe Rescue team.