Duff Donald

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Biografie:
Donald Duff(1893-1968) can be most accurately described as the father and pioneer of Scottish mountain rescue. In 1945 he formed the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team and took part in countless rescues on both Ben Nevis and in Glencoe-more often than not having to attend to the rescued later in the Belford Hospital, where he was in charge.
Donald Duff went to France immediately after graduation in 1916 where he did field hospital work on the Somme. In 1918 he was awarded the M.C. and was mentioned in despatches. He took up climbing in 1935 and joined the Midland Association of Mountaineers. During this period, when he climbed mainly in North Wales, he became interested in the evacuation of the injured from the mountains and devised and built the Duff Stretcher, which later, in 1953, was taken by the successful Everest expedition for emergency use.
In 1943 he joined the First Aid Committee of British Mountaineering Clubs (the predecessor ofthe M.R.C.) and served on this and the M.R.C. of Scotland, of which he was the first Chairman. He wrote numerous papers on hypothermia and mountain safety, and was conscious of the need to educate the young in all aspects of mountain safety.
To me, Donald Duff was always one who wanted to help, especially those injured on our hills. He injured his back on a rescue on Ben Nevis which gave him trouble for many years. I recall in 1963 arriving in Glencoe to be told that there was a rescue under way for a girl who was missing on the Aonach Eagach ridge. Donald Duff, who was doing a locum in the area at the time, had gone up to the summit of the ridge with the main party. He was seventy years old and I can visualise him now dressed in an open shirt and flannels (though he had plenty of spare clothing with him) on a cold autumn night with the high wind blowing his white hair. Nothing was too much trouble for this great man, and his death was a tragic loss to Scotland.
Hamish Macinnes
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 75, 1970, Seite 341-342


Geboren am:
1893
Gestorben am:
1968