Veteran climber relives memories

By Pauline McLean
Arts correspondent, BBC Scotland

The fifth Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival gets under way this weekend. And for one veteran climber it is his belated chance in the spotlight. Jimmy Ness first climbed near Fort William as a teenager. The 78-year-old returned recently to repeat the climb - this time with a camera crew in tow.

Jimmy says climbers in the 1950s had little equipment

Jimmy Ness lifts one of five hefty photo albums onto his lap.

"This," he says, pointing at a sepia photograph of a young man in a knitted jumper, sunglasses and sunshades, "was taken in 1954".

"We didn't have the equipment climbers have nowadays.

"Just a hemp rope and nail boots.

"No helmets, no crampons, no harnesses. You just took extra care because if you fell, it would be fatal."

It was Jimmy's experience of a bygone mountaineering age which inspired film-makers Joe French and John Sutherland to approach him with an unusual challenge.

"We wanted five climbers to repeat some of their most famous climbs," says Joe, who's based in Fort William.

Better prepared

"Jimmy is a bit of a legend locally and we didn't think anyone had gone back to Poll Dubh - an outcrop of sheer rock at the foot of Ben Nevis - at least not after 60 years."

Having got over the initial shock of realising they wanted him to climb again - "I thought they just wanted to talk about my memories in the film" - Jimmy's biggest problem was getting the right gear.

"So much has changed since I first climbed," he says.

"Most people walking round Fort William today are better prepared for the weather than we were.

"But there were fewer people on the mountains, now you have to queue up to climb them."

On the day, Jimmy chose to climb in his own walking shoes - and any last minute nerves about the climb, or being on camera, were soon gone.

"We were a bit anxious about it," says Joe, "but in the end he outpaced us.

Jimmy says it's now time to hang up his climbing boots

"I had to keep taking my harness off and racing ahead so I could get the shot. And before we knew it, he was up and over the top."

"It was more polished than I remembered. Obviously a lot of climbers have worn it down since the 1940s," says Jimmy.

"I enjoyed it but I was relieved when it was over, not to have pulled any muscles."

The film - Polldubh, a mountain climbers' playground - will be shown this weekend as part of the fifth Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival.

The film-makers will be there but Jimmy won't.

He's already had his moment of big screen glory - running down the mountainside as an extra in the 1948 film Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Besides, he thinks it's time to hang up his climbing boots.

"It was a different time, different days," he says.

"I was happy to help the film-makers out but I'm 79 next birthday.

I think that's probably time to call it a day."