The fortune of legendary mountaineer Hamish MacInnes has been left entirely to the Scottish Mountaineering Trust, it has been revealed.
The late great Scot made several outstanding contributions to the climbing world, scaling new routes, and inventing important equipment that’s still in use today.
Hamish passed away in 2020 at the age of 90, leaving an unparalleled legacy of Scottish mountaineering.
Now it has been confirmed that his estate, worth more than $560,000 / £442,000 was donated to the Scottish Mountaineering Trust, a charity that supports Scottish mountaineering and helps young people get into the mountains.
“Hamish MacInnes had a lifelong love of the Scottish mountains and devoted a large part of his life helping people enjoy those mountains safely,” said a statement from the SMT.
“The Scottish Mountaineering Trust has been chosen by his executors to manage his considerable estate so as to continue his life’s work.”
Among its functions, the SMT publishes guides and information about the Scottish highlands, constructs and maintains footpaths, provides mountaineering training, funds mountain rescue teams, and leads educational expeditions.
Throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s, Hamish made the first successful ascents of multiple iconic climbing routes, including the first winter ascent of Zero Gully on Ben Nevis, which he completed in 1957.
He’s credited with inventing several pieces of climbing kit, including the first all-metal ice axe, which he created as a young man. Later, his aluminium-alloy-shaft ice tools were manufactured for the public, after three climbers died on the Zero Gully route when their partly wooden ice axes gave way.
In the 1970s, his ‘terrordactyll’ ice axe helped drastically improve safety standards for ice climbers.
Later in life, Hamish sought to spread his love of climbing, writing more than 40 books and starring in several documentaries.
