Scottish mountain legend 'The Glencoe Fox' leaves entire £446k fortune to the future of the hills

Dr Hamish MacInnes, the Scottish mountain rescue guru whose high-altitude adventures from the Himalayas to Glencoe made him one of the most revered figures in mountaineering history, has left his entire £446,000 estate to the Scottish Mountaineering Trust (SMT).

The trust said it was delighted to receive the bequest from the man known as ‘The Glencoe Fox’. The organisation described Dr MacInnes, who died in 2020 aged 90, as a “confident, ambitious, determined, pragmatic and adventurous” figure who would continue to inspire others.

David Broadhead, chairman of SMT, said: “We are delighted that the MacInnes trustees have decided to pass Hamish’s legacy to the SMT.

“We recognise that this is a big responsibility, as Hamish was a complete individual steering his own course through life, and the SMT will ensure that his values and memory will live on through the projects we support.”

Dr MacInnes, originally from Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, permanently settled in Glencoe in 1959 and set up Glencoe Mountain Rescue team two years later. In 1965, he co-founded the Search and Rescue Dog Association with his wife Catherine.

He invented the first all-metal ice axe, the Terrordactyl, and the first lightweight folding stretcher with the design still used and improved upon. An author of more than 20 best-selling books, his International Mountain Rescue Handbook is still regarded the standard text on the subject.

Dr MacInnes was also a filmmaker and worked on a host of Hollywood films, including Christopher Lambert’s Highlander. He was asked to shoot footage for Clint Eastwood’s The Eiger Sanction, which was filmed in Switzerland, Utah, Arizona and California.

The mountaineer embarked on 20 expeditions during his lifetime, including a trip to Everest in 1953 during which he carried a sack of potatoes and a sheep - but no torch. The ascent was unsuccessful, but he returned to Everest in 1972 and 1975, when he was deputy leader of the first team, led by Chris Bonnington, to successfully scale the South West Face.

He was described by one fellow climber as the “ultimate engineer” on that trip, when Dr MacInnes brought platforms he built in Glencoe to construct on the route to the top.

In 1957, he searched for yeti on the The Lahoul Winter Expedition in India, following stories of sightings through the region and into the Kulu valley. While there were many bears, no yetis were spotted.

Dr MacInnes later wrote: “Perhaps in one of the unfrequented valleys of Nepal or Tibet, where only the wild yak and the snow leopard roam, there may be a yeti, looking each day for the elusive human, the skin of which may bring him a fortune.”

Scottish Mountaineering Trust has traditionally supported mountain access, upland footpath repairs, skills training and mountain rescue development.

The body has donated £1.9m to support activities in the hills since 1990 and said it would use the MacInnes bequest to help open up the mountains to more young people and socially disadvantaged communities.