UKH

https://gripped.com/news/two-u-k-climbing-legends-died-this-week/

Barbeg

Mountain 14 detailed some of his winter achievements especially that special week (Feb 1960) on the Ben with Robin Smith. We are so lucky that both of them were also good writers who detailed their climbs and the adventures they both had when putting them up. They have become classics of mountain literature. He was the inspiration for all that followed. A true rival to Joe Brown south of the border. His legacy are the magnificent routes that he pioneered on Scottish cliffs. RIP Jimmy.

That was the other hero I alluded to on the Wayne Shorter thread.

RIP The Maister. A legend amongst legends.

I always remember watching him in the "The Edge: 100 years of Scottish Mountaineering" series on BBC

youtube.com/watch?v=GSVPZVRD920& 

The way he glides up the rock on Bludger's looks so effortless. 

Not a lot of comments on this thread, I wonder if Marshall had fallen off people's radar a bit? He was a hugely important figure.

Does seem strangely quiet for a total legend. Lost count of the number of times I watched the interviews with him , talking about that week on the Ben in 1960 , using hard boiled eggs as hand warmers, steeling domino's from the pub

I was struck by the absence of hits on this thread. The news was circulating on FB yesterday and I expected a 'stop press' event on here. Hopefully a suitable obituary will appear, like you say he was/is a massively significant presence in climbing history, especially Scottish winter. There will be some good stories to tell too. 

Absolutely massive historical figure and brilliant climber who , as I think, bridged the divide between the Creagh Dhu and the Squirrels. My understanding was that he was the only honorary member of the Creagh Dhu. 

I remember asking him a question at the Fort William Mountain Festival several years ago when Dave Macleod and Andy Turner repeated the famous week of winter climbs and walk on Ben Nevis! He had with him his trusty axe and I asked him what he thought of Dave's modern tools, they did a switch and he couldn't believe how terrible they were to hold.

A few years later I climbed Smith's Route and had to keep telling myself , they cut steps up this!! 

The episodes of him climbing and talking in the On the Edge series is well worth watching, if I remember rightly he had a broken thumb whilst floating up Blugers Revelation. I remember him saying that he told Robin, when cutting steps if you get tired you just made a hole and thrust your arm right in and make a fist!

A true legend and a master.

Rip

Also surprised that this has gone pretty much under the radar. Probably the most important climber in Scotland during a time of very impressive characters. 

I can recommend the Hot Aches film 'Pinnacle' to anyone that hasn't seen it.

I thought about writing a comment earlier but I never knew him & couldn't think of anything to write other than the obvious.

Sad news indeed. He was truly a pioneer. I always liked watching interviews of him later in life talking about his ascents. His interview on the film "The Pinnacle" is great, with him talking about cutting steps up Orion Face Direct with Robin Smith!  

I've been rereading his articles in the book A Century of Scottish Mountaineering. The Initiation,about an an ascent of Ravens Gully with Bill Smith ( looking like a Scots Dick Tracy) is perfect. Short , humorous and to the point. Also a great picture of him in that book as a young lad with some of the older SMC characters including Ling. Hard to fathom what it was like step cutting those routes back then.

Rip

Likewise.

I've just arrived in Glencoe about an hour ago and seen this....a real climber from back in the day....I've climbed here for 38 years and every time I've been his routes I've respected him more and more. I had a Swifty in the Clach just now....it's really very different to the old days....

Sad news. A massive figure in Scottish climbing. I have always been in awe of his achievements. A fantastic legacy. 

Very sad to read this. Right up there with the best climbers of these Isles. RIP.

Truly one of the " Last of the Grand Old Masters"(as in the Tom Patey song of the same name)

A giant. RIP.

jcm

Can only echo what others have said. The death of a hugely significant figure.

+1 I wish I could have had a chat with him. Lovely manners on all the videos. Must have been to get the accolade from the Craig dhu boys!

Totally inspirational piece of video - you can hear John's "put a bloody runner in" in the background

One of the Scottish greats. His chapter in Cold Climbs about Crowberry Gully is one of my favourites; 'the teething of pterodactyl chicks'. Brilliant phrase.

Thanks for sharing that, not seen it before. Inspirational character, RIP.

Oh no, another hero of mine from when I started is gone. Never met him but always seemed very humble despite his accomplishments and talent. Along with Hamish passing the other year, it feels like we've now lost some of the last remaining links to that golden age of post-war Scottish climbing. 

And the only Edinburgh member? And the only middle-class member? 

Either way it seems that the Creagh Dhu both greatly respected and greatly liked him. John Cunningham said something along the lines that he was in a class of his own. No higher praise. 

Mick

Lost count how many times I’ve watched “The Pinnacle’. We were on Smiths yesterday and only found out he’d passed this morning. Amazing what they did that week, with so little gear compared with what we have today, RIP The Architect

Don't know about Edinburgh, but he was not the only middle class member.

I got inspired to be a climber in the mid-70s in my mid teens. Unlike a lot of you lucky bastards I had literally no connection to the world of climbing. No money and no transport meant that for a couple of years, with a few exceptions, the only place I could climb was Holyrood park. "Climb"initially meaning bouldering and hairball solos in my trainers. Thankfully, my Mum ponied up for a pair of EB's after much persuasion and I started bouldering almost every sunday in the south quarry of the crags. Almost every time I went, there was an old geezer (to my eyes at least) who traversed around in what seemed to be hiking boots. After a few times we started chatting and I was absolutely gobsmacked to learn that this was Jimmy Marshal. It's probably isn't that easy for modern climbers to understand the status of Jimmy Marshall at that time in Scotland, it's just such a different world nowadays... everything seems everyday.
It just so happened that at that time Jimmy was more or less out of climbing but was keeping his toe in the water by going to the south quarry on random sundays. 
Over the next couple of years we bouldered together on lots of occasions. It was great to be shown the problems that him and his friends had tussled with years before. I remember one called Coupe Jaques which made him very happy since I just couldn't get my oversized EB's to stick, despite countless tries, while he floated it every time in his Vibrams. One day he told me about Steeplejacks Staircase which had more or less fallen out of scotlands climbing lore despite being the hardest route in the country for many years after its ascent in 1946, we went round to the big quarry to have a look and he told me about him and smiths ascents in that late 50's. He had lots of funny stories and was always keen to share snippets of the inner history of that period in scottish climbing which is something I absolutely loved.
Here was this legend of scottish climbing, patiently treating a really gawky, question filled kid (I really was non-stop) as a peer. That ties in to his overall reputation as a real lynchpin within the notoriously parochial climbing community in Scotland. I suspect he just easily warmed to unbridled enthusiasm regardless of the source.
He really was a class act.
 

Thank you for posting that; I didn't know. I remember I had a copy of 'The Edge' on VHS; and that, too, now represents a different age.

RIP Jimmy, a pioneer.

Great reply. Made me wish I had met him too.

Legend. Led the charge in Edinburgh in the 50s and 60s and inspired generations of yummicks, myself included (though I never met him). Stories about him kept popping up on scraps of paper around Graham Brown House. Bits and pieces can be found on the EUMC archives: https://eumcarchives.wordpress.com/

Like others, it's hard to know what to say. It's sad, but inevitable isn't it, our demise.

I first found out about him watching The Edge, and he struck me as such an amiable gentleman. I think he and WH Murray are/were very high in the list of my inspirations.

As someone said, along with Hamish, it's the end of an era..........

Listening to him at a club talk 20 years or more ago he came across as a lovely chap, no hint of bravado about his exploits just a passion for climbing, mountains and changeable conditions. I was struck by two things one that young and old, newbie or seasoned he regarded all in the audience with great courtesy as fellow climbers, and second his recounting seeing Tower Ridge as a single crest of snow with the Great Tower being totally banked out!

I think it would have been premature for UKC to produce an obituary based on a couple of unverified posts on Facebook. Probably waiting for an official announcement which for various reasons can be delayed.

It was in the Glasgow Herald two days ago.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23364294.jimmy-marshall-tributes-paid-d...

The FB posts I saw were from two of his friends, one of whom was an old climbing partner, so not really unverified.

Marshall is such a gargantuan figure in Scottish mountaineering lore that I assumed his passing would be big news. 

Nothing new there. 
I had a go at UKC when they took days to report the passing of Bonatti. 
But then… what have these legends done on grit?

We have something in the works from someone who knew Jimmy well. Sourcing and writing obituaries takes quite a while longer than you might think, especially if the writer was close to the deceased. Many people decline before we find someone willing. We also like to give some time before asking people for this reason. We're not typically keen on rushing out newsflashes about people who have died.

It's good that you take this approach to obits and give the subjects the respect of proper research. 

Fair enough on the newsflash front. I suppose an elderly legend passing away is a different matter from a current activist dying suddenly, from a news viewpoint.

I understand that Natalie, but there’s a difference between “rushing out newsflashes” and posting a timely, respectful notice … with an obit to follow. 
Radio silence doesn’t cut it with me. 

Some years ago, when a legend died (I think it was Ed Drummond), I remember a comment on here about why there wasn't much about him. At the time, I was working round the clock on a retrospective. And it's not easy. 

If it's someone you know, you can be plunged into grief. For me, it takes a few days to get my head together to even start writing. And then you want to get it right. 

Obviously major newspapers can have obituaries written in advance. Not my cup of tea. And it's interesting that obituaries on here have been light years ahead of stuff I've read in major newspapers. 

You totter around, slipping in and out of grief. Finally you start writing. You know you've only got one shot at it. You want to do the best you can - for them, for fellow readers, for your pride in your craft. 

I accept this doesn't really answer your comment. But hopefully it gives some context to the process. With a guy like Jimmy Marshall, you'd really want to do your best. In your mind's eye you'd picture him and hope for a wry smile of approval. 

Mick 

Chapeau 

Well stated Mick.  I was fortunate enough to meet Jimmy, on the film shoot of BludgersRevelation.  He was in his sixties, a few weeks out of hospital (heart surgery if I remember correctly, and yes, he floated up it.  Even better was the post climb scurrilous chat outside Jacksonville with Big John MacLean, Ian Nicholson and a few others.  Most of that was not broadcast!  Always friendly whenever I saw him after that.  A great man for sure.

Never met him but he seemed to get on with his climbing and professional life without any self promotion or fanfare.

Like the story of when one climbing magazine was running a historical on Scottish pioneers, they could not source a photo of JM . Then the editor had the bright idea of asking him.

Thanks for that, great little film with Jimmy. A very humble man.

Thank you for all your great comments about my dad they have brought great comfort to my mum and all the family, we will miss him forever, a truelly remarkable and amazing dad