Back from the abyss – the mountain rebel who inspired generations of Scottish climbers

IT sometimes feels as though I grew up in the mountains. Not that I actually did, of course, for those high and wild places were a far cry from the drab uniformity of the Lanarkshire housing scheme of my boyhood. The mountains instead were my escape from the mundane and a rite of passage in terms of life’s experiences.

During those long, sun-caressed summer days, grey blizzard-filled winters and endless dreich times in between, I discovered many things. Among them was how to pack a rucksack, coil a rope, tie a bowline, figure of eight or Prusik knot, abseil, belay, brake with an ice axe and front point on crampons. I discovered other things too. My limits and fears, physical and mental, for that’s what mountaineering is really all about, exploring the self just as much as the wild places.

I was 13 years old when this passionate love affair with the mountains and the worshipping of the greatest among those who ventured there began. The best of them were altogether a different breed.

Free spirits they were, nomads, rebellious, daring and as hard as the mica schist of the Cobbler or granite of Glen Etive. The fact that many of my climbing heroes came from working-class backgrounds only added to their allure.

There were the Lancashire lads, Joe Brown and Don Whillans for example, apprentice plumbers when not pioneering rock climbing in Snowdonia