Daughter climbs Sutherland mountain in memory of father
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The daughter of a famous climber who died on a Sutherland peak with a fellow legendary mountaineer, yesterday scaled the same mountain that claimed them.
Even more emotionally, Adele Perry (24), made the trek on the first anniversary of the heartbreaking accident - and scattered some of her father's ashes at the summit.
Father-of-three Steve Perry (47), who lived at Dalcross near Inverness was killed on February 5 last year with Andy Nisbet (65) after getting into severe difficulty on 3041ft high Ben Hope.
Steve managed to make a call for help by mobile phone.
Their bodies were recovered after a two day operation involving nearly 50 members of mountain rescue teams and two Coastguard helicopters.
On Wednesday Adele battled horrendous wind and rain and climbed Ben Hope in memory of her father. She was accompanied by 20 people - many of them rescuers who had tried to save her father and who knew the mountaineers.
Adele is also raising money for two of the mountain rescue teams that risked their lives to try and save the pair.
She said: "The fundraising has gone amazingly well. I cannot bring the words together to say how thankful I am to all the people who have donated to these fantastic teams. My dad is now home."
Assynt Mountain Rescue Team leader Sue Agnew said: "She was really determined and was up and down in about five hours. She battled horrendous conditions - strong winds and driving, sideways rain, but she was so determined to do this for her dad. For us, it was also closure of a chapter. Many of us knew Steve and Andy.
"There were tears at the summit it was emotional - Adele scattered her father's ashes. It was very poignant. But she did brilliantly."
Adele, an auxiliary veterinary nurse, has already more than quadrupled her initial target of £500 and hopes to raise much more.
"I know it will be hard and emotional and I will be thinking of my dad every step of the way," said Adele, who lives at Littleborough in Greater Manchester, before setting off.
"I am raising money for the Assynt MRT and Dundonnell MRT because both of these mountain rescue teams risked their lives to try and save my dad and Andy. I can never thank them enough for what they did. Some of the team were with me which was fantastic. I just felt I wanted to give something back and to make my dad proud."
Adele said her thoughts would also be with Andy, who had shared so much with her father.
"They 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 am glad they had done what they had set out to do and finished the route," she said.
"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. They were very close - Andy was my dad's best mate.
"I am not a climber and I have not done a Munro - but I did climb Snowdon (Wales's highest mountain at 3560 ft) with my dad when I was six years old. I used to do hillwalking with him when I was younger. He was such an inspiration to me. Dad achieved so much but remained a very humble man.
"I loved him to bits. I am doing this to keep his memory alive and say thanks to those who risked their lives to save my dad and Andy.
"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."
In the winter of 2005/06, Steve became the first person to complete a continuous unsupported winter round of Scotland's Munros 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 3,000 foot mountain in between, in a seven-and-a-half-month trek in 2003.
Adele said her walk was especially poignant "because it was also the last mountain that dad finished his Munro round on".
Andy, 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. Andy helped establish 1000 winter climbing routes.
Steve was also a passionate Scottish winter - and summer - devotee, with many new ascents to his credit.
"In recent years he and Andy had established a strong new routeing partnership. They were driving forces in the late development of Ben Hope, a mountain largely neglected until recent seasons," said a tribute on UKC climbing website.
Andy's appearance and climbing style earned him the nicknames "Honey Monster" and "The Droid".
Ironically Adele said she had been planning to visit her father when she learned of his death.
She said: "I'd just passed my driving (test) a few months before he passed away and I was planning on coming to see him in the March.
"It's difficult coming up here because this is what he loved, a place he loved. He loved being in the mountains and that's why he moved here."
To donate to Adele's walk
Dundonnell MRT - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/adele-perry2
Assynt MRT - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/adele-perry1
