He was tough, and he didn’t back down, and he didn’t ever quit. But he did know when to retreat when that was the right thing to do. One of the best stories about him is of the epic retreat from Mont Blanc in 1961. This was when he and my mum and Ken Brannan went to the Alps for a summer of climbing. My dad teamed up with Ken and two American climbers to climb Mont Blanc. While they were on the mountain, it was hit by an immense storm - blizzard conditions, lightning, Arctic temperatures. My dad and Ken sensed early what was coming, before the worst of it, and said they must turn back. The Americans insisted they should carry on. My dad and Ken prevailed. The full force of the storm came over them before they were safely down, and extracting themselves from the hill turned into an unbelievable test of their courage, and resilience, and mountaineering skill. Two details stand out in my mind: my dad told me about how they’d had to cross back over a section of path that was now overwhelmed by a flooding waterfall - they could hear boulders being carried down in the flood. They had to cross one by one, belaying one another against the water. The courage it must have taken to get into that water, and the strength it must have taken to survive it. The second detail comes from my mum, who all through this was waiting with the other climber’s wives and girlfriends in Courmayeur, looking up at the mountain and wondering if their men were alive or dead, fearing the worst: she told me how my dad appeared out of the storm, coming towards her, staggering, shattered, exhausted, but determined to make it all the way back and let her know that he was all right.
Ben B ... Inverness
