Mr MacInnes, who was born in Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, moved to the glen in 1959.

A hearse carrying his coffin, which will have two crossed ice axes on top, will pass through Glencoe village and then Glen Coe on 4 December.

Dr MacInnes is to be cremated in a private ceremony in Glasgow.

During the journey the hearse will stop briefly outside Glencoe’s David Cooper’s Coffee Shop, where Dr MacInnes was a regular for many years and could be found sat a table with a pot of tea “with only a very weak passing of a tea bag,” according to friends.

The hearse will then pause 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 for Glasgow.

Dr MacInnes climbed the Matterhorn in the Alps when he was just 16 and went on to found mountain rescue teams, lead expeditions and write books on mountaineering.

Dr MacInnes is credited with inventing climbing’s first all-metal ice axe and a rescue stretcher. Continue reading →