Mountaineer Hamish MacInnes taken on 'final tour' of Glen Coe
- Published
Dr Hamish MacInnes died at his home in Glen Coe on Sunday
Renowned mountaineer and inventor Dr Hamish MacInnes, who died last month aged 90, has been taken on a "final tour" of his beloved Glen Coe.
A hearse carrying his coffin, which featured two ice axes of his design, passed through Glencoe village and on to the famous glen itself.
Dr MacInnes, who climbed the Matterhorn at 16, went on to found mountain rescue teams and lead multiple expeditions.
He is also credited with inventing the all-metal ice axe and rescue stretcher.
His stretcher has been used by rescue teams all over the world.
The all-metal ice axe, which Dr MacInnes fashioned in a shed attached to his house in Glen Coe in the 1960s, replaced tools with wooden shafts that could snap when under pressure, such as during a fall.
Dr MacInnes was famous for his climbing exploits and inventions
Dr MacInnes was born in Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway and moved to the glen in 1959.
During the journey, the hearse stopped briefly outside David Cooper's Coffee Shop in Glencoe, where Dr MacInnes was a regular who could be found sat at a table with a pot of tea "with only a very weak passing of a tea bag," according to friends.
The hearse then paused at Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team centre - Dr MacInnes founded the team and was a former team leader - and finally outside his home in Glen Coe, before heading to Glasgow for a cremation ceremony.
People lined the road through Glencoe village to pay tribute to Dr MacInnes
Residents of Glencoe, along with members of Glencoe rescue team and Dr MacInnes friends, lined the road through the village to pay tribute.
Mountain rescue teams across Scotland, including Skye and Oban, along with the organisation Scottish Mountain Rescue have paid tribute to Dr MacInnes on social media.
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Dr MacInnes was a world-renowned mountaineer who was nicknamed the Fox of Glencoe due to his "cunning as a mountaineer".
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He was the founder of Scotland's Search and Rescue Dog Association and set up the Scottish Avalanche Information Service.
Dr MacInnes took part in more than 20 climbing expeditions abroad, including four to Mount Everest and was almost killed in an avalanche on the peak in 1975.
In the 1970s, Dr MacInnes was also an adviser on Clint Eastwood's film The Eiger Sanction and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and also The Mission starring Robert De Niro in the 1980s.
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