Donald Duff was born in Edinburgh in 1893. He graduated from Edinburgh University as a doctor in 1916 and within weeks was working as a surgeon in a field hospital at the Somme. Later as a captain in the R.A.M.C. he was awarded the Military Cross. He was appointed Surgeon Superindendant at the Belford Hospital, Fort William in 1945 and it was then he embarked on a distinguished career in the pioneering days of Mountain Rescue.In 1945 he formed the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team and took part in countless rescues on both Ben Nevis and in Glencoe. He patented his own stretcher in 1946. The Duff Stretcher was probably the greatest landmark in Mountain Rescue technology. He often treated the casualities he had helped to rescue and in 1956 he received the M.B.E. for services to medicine. In the 50’s Duff ran training exercises in Glen Nevis and on the local hills and his work on hypothermia and other cold injuries helped educate a new generation of hillwalkers. He died in 1968.