X-Nico

The Lairig Club

It is interesting to note that other than the first ascent of Raven’s Gully in Glencoe by Hamish MacInnes and Chris Bonington in 1953 all the grade V routes in Scotland were confined to the Lairig’s stomping ground of the Eastern Cairngorms in the early 1950s and it is ironic that it was Lairig members Patey and Nicol who teamed up with Hamish MacInnes to climb the first grade V on Ben Nevis, this came in the form of the much prized first ascent of Zero Gully.

Tom Patey

He first became interested in climbing while he was in the Scouts, but it was at the University of Aberdeen, where he trained as a doctor, that he first revealed his full talent as an exploratory climber, captaining the Lairig Club.

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