Don had some genetic and/or deep psychological problem, so that for all his good qualities and wit, he always remained an undeveloped, volatile, fighting 'schoolboy'. So that, all too often, he would treat complete strangers (particularly women) incredibly rudely or even violently. When Chris Bonington returned to the South West Face of Everest in 1975 Hamish joined him as deputy leader of the team. Chris described Hamish as the ‘ultimate engineer’. An avalanche hit and Hamish was caught in its ferocity. Snow filled his lungs and after some consideration, he decided to leave the team. Chris knew he had lost a very strong climber who had contributed so much with his fine-tuning of the oxygen equipment, his tents designed to withstand the battering that had caused so much devastation in 1972, his bridge-building in the Icefall and Western Cwm and his quiet sense of humour and good judgement.

In Glen Coe more significant new routes followed in the 1960s including Crypt Route (V,6) and Pterodactyl (V,7). The big prize however was the first winter traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye with Patey, Davie Crabb and Brian Robertson in 1965. Similar to Zero Gully, the Cuillin Ridge had assumed 'last great problem' status and had been attempted over a dozen times, including six by MacInnes. Their success, over three days in February, was a testament to MacInnes' determination and opportunism to drop everything and go for the route, when conditions were just right. Most active in the 1950s and 60s, Brown established a number of new routes in Snowdonia and the Peak District, which were at the leading edge of the hard grades. As well as his achievements on the peaks, Hamish has worked on a massive catalogue of films and documentaries. He was part of the BBC teams that made The Old Man of Hoy and The Matterhorn Centenary Climb and also worked on the film Climb to The Lost World which documented the 1973 climb of Roraima. His safety expertise was also in high demand in the movie industry. There are several deserved heroes of British mountaineering but it’s fair to say Don Whillans is the most impressive anti-hero. Lower down on the mountain, on 30 May, as the expedition was about to leave, Ian Clough was killed by a falling serac. Several members of the expedition rose to fame in Britain, and as a whole the expedition received international recognition in mountaineering circles on account of its innovative and extremely difficult nature.Try and name the most famous British mountaineers and it’s likely your list will be headed by the likes of Hillary, Mallory, Bonington…the famous names of mountaineering.

And, of course, Chouinard for going into manufacturing nuts - actually, this was surely the biggest single contribution?First Britons conquer Everest". BBC On this day. 2008. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008 . Retrieved 17 January 2020. Thompson, Simon (2010). "Chapter 6. 1939–1970: Hard Men in an Affluent Society". Unjustifiable risk?: the story of British climbing. Milnthorpe: Cicerone. ISBN 9781852846275. And with him, too, came a character generous, playful and straightforward. His mind may not have been academically trained, but he was sharp, informed, argumentative, and I think very wise. He loved the contest, be it physical or intellectual; he loved to wrestle. Don was a diamond. I met him once in the Llanberis pub, and college friends of mine lived next to him in Lancashire, Loveclough or Crawshawbooth, somewhere like that, but he had already started his beer training. While Brown is making the first ascent of Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain, Whillans is left at home, his hell-raising reputation causing him to be alienated.