Douglas Keith ScottCBE (29 May 1941 – 7 December 2020[1]) was an English mountaineer and climbing author, noted for being on the team that made the first ascent of the south-west face of Mount Everest on 24 September 1975. In receiving one of mountaineering's highest honours, the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award, his personal style and his climbs were described as "visionary".[2]
Over the years he was on 40 expeditions to the high mountains of Asia, during which he made some 30 first ascents. In 2020 he was diagnosed with cancer, and he died of the disease in December 2020.[3]
Early life
Scott was born in Nottingham, England, and was the eldest of three sons. Scott would later discover that his mother was born at almost the exact same time as famed mountaineer Edmund Hillary, which Scott felt was an uncanny coincidence.[4]
Scott was educated in Nottingham at Cottesmore Secondary Modern and Mundella Grammar schools.[5] He started climbing at the age of 13, his interest sparked by seeing climbers on the Black Rocks in Derbyshire whilst hiking with the Scouts.[6][7] His father, George Douglas Scott, was a policeman and amateur boxer, who was the Amateur Boxing Association 1945 British Heavyweight Champion.[8] His father gave up the game to focus on the family.[8] Scott lived on the outskirts of Nottingham with his father and mother, Edith Joyce Scott, and younger brothers, Brian and Garry. All were encouraged towards the open countryside, particularly the Peak District.[9]
After two years at Loughborough Teachers' Training College (1959–61), Scott taught geography, history, PE and games for ten years at his old secondary modern school.[10]
Scott was made a Freeman of the City of Nottingham in 1976 and has since had a Nottingham tram named after him.[21] He was awarded an honorary MA by the universities of Nottingham and Loughborough, 1993; Hon. MEd Nottingham Trent, 1995; Hon Dr. Derby University, 2007;[22] and Hon Dr. Loughborough University, 2017.[23]
Charity work in Nepal
Doug Scott in Nepal in 2015.
During Scott's climbing career, his understanding of the culture and the people in the regions where he climbed grew as he formed strong bonds and relationships. In 1991 he raised the funds and organised the installation of 17 fresh-water standpipes in Askole, the last settlement before K2, that reduced infant mortality by half.[24][25] He along with his wife Sharu Prabhu founded the charity Community Action Nepal (CAN), and spent much of his time fundraising for this cause and regularly visited some of the 60 CAN projects out in Nepal.[26][27] Scott & Prabhu were also advocates of responsible tourism & set up Community Action Treks (CAT) in 1989 to help improve conditions of labour in the trekking industry.[28] He received the British Guild of Travel Writers Tourism and Community Merit Award 1996, and CAT received the Responsible Tourism Award 2008.[29] CAN was awarded the first British Expertise International (BEI) Charity Project of the Year Award along with CAN's partner, WYG, in 2017.[30]
Volunteering
Scott held various volunteering positions within the mountaineering community. He was a member of the Hunt Committee contributing to the Hunt Report on Outdoor Education 1976. He was British Mountaineering Council (BMC) representative on the UIAA and a member of the UIAA Management Committee 2008–2012; member of UIAA Mountaineering Commission and chairman of the Traditional Values Working Group 2011 until his death.[31][32] He was chairman of Mount Everest Foundation 2014–2017 and vice chairman of the Mountain Heritage Trust 2014–2017.[8] He was an honorary member of the Climbers Club, the Alpine Club and the American Alpine Club.[32] He was a vice president of the BMC between 1994 and 1997 and went on to become a patron of the BMC in 2015.[32]
Career highlights
Highlights of Scott's climbing career include:[33][16]
1965: Tarso Tiroko, Tibesti mountains of Chad with Ray Gillies, Clive Davies and Pete Warrington
1977: Baintha Brakk (more commonly known as The Ogre), Karakoram, with Bonington, and descent with both legs broken at the ankle with the selfless help of Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland
1998: Drohmo, South pillar, Nepal, with Roger Mear
2000: Targo Ri, Central Tibet, with Julian Freeman-Attwood and Richard Cowper
Personal life
In 1962 he married Janice Brook, with whom he had three children, Michael, Martha and Rosie.[34] The marriage was dissolved in 1988. In 1993 he married Indian climber, Sharavati Prabhu, with whom he had two sons, Arran and Euan.[35][36] The marriage was dissolved in 2003.[37] In 2007 he married Patricia Lang, residing together in the Northern Fells of the Lake District.[37]
In March 2020, Scott was diagnosed with inoperable cerebral lymphoma.[38] He died at his home in Cumbria, England of the disease on 7 December 2020, aged 79.[39][38][40]
^Scott, Doug (November 2010). "Awards and Recognition in Climbing"(PDF). Alpine Journal. 11–2010: 73–83. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
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