In 1959, sixteen-year-old Ian 'Spike' Sykes left school and, after a short period of work at Leeds University, joined the RAF. Already a keen climber, he signed up on the promise of excitement and adventure and was posted to the remote RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team in the north of Scotland. It was the beginning of a journey which would see him involved in some of the most legendary call-outs in Scottish mountain rescue history, including the 1963 New Year tragedy on the Isle of Skye. In the Shadow of Ben Nevis tells Spike's story from growing up in Leeds in the aftermath of the Second...
In 1959, sixteen-year-old Ian 'Spike' Sykes left school and, after a short period of work at Leeds University, joined the RAF. Already a keen climber,...
