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Mountaineer Mick Tighe wins top Scottish award

Written by Fiona

January 19 2016

Mountain guide Mick Tighe is announced as the winner of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture 2016.

Mick is the ninth winner of the award, which is presented by the Fort William Mountain Festival. #FWMF2016

The award was nominated by the public and Mick’s peers. He joins previous winners such as Hamish MacInnes, Jimmy Marshall and Myrtle Simpson in the Excellence in Mountain Culture Hall of Fame.

Those who nominated Mick for the award described him as embodying the spirit of Scottish mountaineering, whether through his work as a guide, rescuer, trainer, pioneer of many new routes and latterly with his writings, film work and setting up of the Scottish Mountaineering Heritage Collection.

Mike Pescod, chairman of the Highland Mountain Culture Association and organisers of the festival, said: “Mick embodies the spirit of mountaineering perfectly, from its slightly rebellious side to its social and cultural side.

“He has dedicated his life to mountaineering and has helped countless others do so as well. It was Mick who first came to rescue me after an accident 11 years ago so it is on a very personal level that I say I am delighted that Mick is the recipient of this year’s Mountain Culture Award.”

A bit about Mick’s life

Born in Derbyshire, Mick joined the Royal Marines at the age of 17.  During his 10 years’ service, he qualified as a Mountain and Arctic Warfare Instructor, and spent seven winters in Arctic Norway.  After leaving the service, he qualified as a British and International Mountain Guide and worked as an instructor with The Joint Services Mountain Training Centre at Tulloch before starting his own guiding business, Nevis Guides.

As well as a member of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team for almost three decades, Mick was the National Training Officer to all of Scotland’s Mountain Rescue Teams for ten years.

Mick Tighe1-small

He has contributed numerous articles and photographs to various climbing and walking publications and for many years he did his annual round of Winter Mountain Safety Lectures throughout the UK for the charity Boots Across Scotland.

As an inveterate collector, Mick has amassed, perhaps, the largest collection of mountain artefacts, equipment, literature, photographs and other memorabilia in the UK, which he donated to create the Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection, of which he is a trustee.

Having moved to Glen Roy, just north of Fort William, when he left the Marines in 1977, Mick is still there, happily married to wife Kathy.

The award will be presented to Mick during the Fort William Mountain Festival which runs in and around Fort William and Lochaber, The Outdoor Capital of the UK, from  February 17 to 21, 2016.

Also see Facebook and Twitter  #FWMF2016

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