Jamie Andrew (born 3 August 1969) is a Scottish

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

. He became a quadruple amputee after a mountaineering accident and he has continued to climb and to work for charities.

Early life

Andrew was born in

Bearsden Bearsden ( ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the Glasgow city centre, city centre. The Roman Empire, Roman Antonine Wall runs through the town, and the remains of ...

, just outside

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. He attended school there, and later in Glasgow. He went on to study for a BEng in Electrical Engineering at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He completed an MSc at Bangor in North Wales and then moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

where he still lives. In 1995 he embarked on a career as an Industrial Rope Access Technician, tacking construction and maintenance projects on high buildings involving

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

. Projects included work on

oil rig An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling. Kinds of oil rig include: * Drilling rig A drilling rig is an integrated system that Drilling, drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construc ...

s, viaducts, power stations, and painting the

Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...

. He became a Team Leader, Safety Supervisor and Rope Access Trainer for rope access company based in an Edinburgh.

Accident

In January 1999 Andrew and his friend Jamie Fisher got caught in a storm after having climbed the north face of

Les Droites Les Droites () is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps and is the lowest of the 4000-metre peaks in the Alps. The mountain has two summits: * West summit (3,984 m), first ascent by W. A. B. Coolidge, Christian Almer and Ulri ...

in the Mont Blanc massif. Having made it up the north face the two men were beset by snow, winds of 90 mph and temperatures of -30 °C, for the following four nights. On the last night Fisher died of hypothermia. Despite having developed frostbite, Andrew survived the experience, being helicoptered off the mountain by the French rescue services. His ordeal was featured on the documentary series ''

I Shouldn't Be Alive ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'' is a documentary television series made by Darlow Smithson Productions, a UK-based production company, that featured accounts of individuals or groups caught in life-threatening scenarios away from civilization in natur ...

''. The episode is titled '' Death Climb'' and first aired on 26 January 2011.

After amputation

Amputation of all four limbs was necessary to save Andrew's life from

septic shock Septic shock is a potentially fatal medical condition that occurs when sepsis, which is organ injury or damage in response to infection, leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism. The Third International C ...

. After he recovered from the surgery, he spent several months in rehabilitation. After his first walk (with no hands or feet) up

Blackford Hill Blackford Hill is a hill in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. It is in the area of Blackford, between Morningside, and the Braid Hills. Together with the Hermitage of Braid, it comprises the Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill ...

Andrew took part in

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...

paragliding Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended be ...

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

hill walking Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much uncultiva ...

caving Caving, also known as spelunking (United States and Canada) and potholing (United Kingdom and Ireland), is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific ...

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

and

mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

. He has walked up

Ben Nevis Ben Nevis ( ; , ) is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William. The mount ...

, raising £15,000 for charity in the process, run the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

in 2001 raising £22,000 for charity, made many ascents of 4,000 m peaks in the Alps and climbed

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

with three other disabled mountaineers raising £5,000 for charity. In 2007 he partnered with another quadruple amputee Olivia Giles to created a charity named

500 Miles "500 Miles" (also known as "500 Miles Away from Home" or "Railroaders' Lament") is a song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveler who is far from hom ...

named after the song. They were given permission to use the name by

The Proclaimers The Proclaimers are a Scottish Rock music, rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid (born 5 March 1962). They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America (song), Letter from America", which reached No. 3 ...

. The charity was launched to fund prosthetic care abroad. In 2012 Andrew climbed the Olympic Stadium of the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

games as part of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's "Meet the Superhumans" campaign to launch the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

. Andrew gives talks throughout the UK and in 2004 published the book ''Life and Limb'' which tells his story. According to Andrew his challenge for the future is his young daughter and twins. In April 2014 he was a guest on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme ''

Midweek ''MidWeek'' is a weekly United States tabloid shopper and advertisement periodical published Wednesday in Honolulu, Hawaii and distributed throughout the Islands of Oahu and Kauai. It is owned by Black Press and is a sister publication of th ...

''. Seven Summits wit
boparfet
On 4 August 2016, Andrew climbed to the top of the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

, accompanied by two local mountaineers.

Personal life

In June 2000 he married his long-term partner, Anna Wyatt. In February 2004 the couple had a son and in May 2006 had twins, a girl and a boy.

Works

References

External links

Jamie Andrew's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrew, Jamie 1969 births Living people People from Bearsden Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Bangor University Scottish mountain climbers Writers from Glasgow 21st-century Scottish autobiographers Climbing and mountaineering writers 21st-century Scottish writers 21st-century Scottish male writers Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish male non-fiction writers