The daughter of a legendary Scottish climber killed on Ben Hope last year with a friend has revealed she plans to mark the first anniversary of his death – by scaling the same munro.
Prolific winter climbers Steve Perry, 47, and Andy Nisbet, 65, got into severe difficulty after falling on Ben Hope in Sutherland.
But the pair were in an extremely remote location on the 3,041ft peak and their bodies were found after a two-day operation.
Now Mr Perry’s daughter, Adele, has decided to tackle the munro to raise money for the two mountain rescue teams that tried to save him, Assynt and Dundonnell.
The 24-year-old will climb Ben Hope on February 5, the first anniversary of the tragedy.
She said: “I know it will be hard and emotional, and I will be thinking of my dad every step of the way.
“I just felt I wanted to give something back and to make my dad proud. I am hoping that some of the rescue team will be joining me on the day.”
Miss Perry, who lives in Littleborough, Manchester, said the pair were into winter climbing routes on Ben Hope and had waited for weeks for the weather to be right to establish this new route.
“I did not know Andy, but I know he and dad became great friends and my dad told me lots of stories about him – and of them climbing together,” she added. “They were very close – Andy was my dad’s best mate.”
In the winter of 2005/06, Mr Perry became the first person to complete a continuous unsupported winter round of Scotland’s munroes entirely on foot.
He was also the first person to have finished two continuous munro rounds, having also walked Land’s End to John O’Groats via every mainland 3,000ft mountain in between, in a seven-and-a-half-month trek in 2003.
Mr Nisbet, who lived in Boat of Garten, was a former Scottish Mountaineering Club president and received the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture in 2014. He helped establish 1,000 winter climbing routes.
Miss Perry admitted it would be a tough challenge, as she is not a climber – though climbed Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales at 3,560ft, with her dad as a child.
“I am doing this to keep his memory alive and say thanks to those who risked their lives to save my dad and Andy,” she said.
“Dad lived for climbing – it was his life. The only comfort I can take was that he died doing something he loved so much. He lived for the moment – and he had many great moments – to get the most out of life because he said you never knew when it would end.”
To sponsor Miss Perry, click here.
