Between the 1980s and 2019, Nisbet developed more than a thousand new winter climbing routes in Scotland, and it has been calculated that, of the 600 Scottish winter climbing routes graded at V or more, he was associated with the first ascent of 150 of them, and that his climbing legacy has surpassed that of 1960's Scottish climber Tom Patey. In recent years, he and his climbing partner, Steve Perry, had been developing many new winter climbing routes on Ben Hope, Britain's most northerly Munro.