Doug Scott

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For other people of the same / or similar name Douglas Scott (disambiguation)
For Douglas Scott, the Glasgow-based climbing partner of W. H. Murray in the period 1935-1955, see that article

Douglas Keith Scott CBE, known as Doug Scott (born 29 May 1941) is a British mountaineer famous for the first ascent of the South-West Face of Mount Everest on 25 September 1975, and was the first Briton to climb Everest.

Scott was born in Nottingham and started climbing at the age of 12, his interest sparked by a school trip to the White Hall outdoor activities centre near Buxton.

Scott's remarkable mountaineering career includes over 30 expeditions to inner Asia and he is regarded as one of the world's leading high altitude and big wall climbers. He is best known for his historic first ascent of the South-West face of Everest with Dougal Haston in an expedition led by Chris Bonington. However all of his other climbs were in the lightweight alpine style. Scott is also remarkable in that half of his climbs are first ascents.

Highlights of Scott's climbing career include

  • 1975: South-west side of Everest with Dougal Haston, bivouac on the south summit at 8760 m.
  • 1977: Ascent of the Ogre (in Pakistan) and descent with both legs broken at the ankle.
  • 1978: Ascent attempt of the west side of K2.
  • 1979: North ridge of Kanchenjunga (8586 m).
  • 1979: Ascent of the north side of Nuptse with Georges Bettembourg, Bryan Hall and Allan Rouse.

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. This is particularly true of Nepal and he felt he had to do something positive and purposeful for the people of that country. While he saw them as "emotionally" wealthy, they had little infrastructural wealth such as educational opportunities, access to primary health care or clean water systems. To further these aims he founded the charity Community Action Nepal and spends much of his time fundraising for this cause, especially from giving public lectures.

Scott is also an advocate of Responsible Tourism. He noticed that many agencies who provide porters for climbing expeditions exploit their Nepali staff. He found out that one agency that he had been using was not paying any wages to the Sherpas, saying that they were lucky to have the opportunity of getting tips from foreigners. Following this discovery in 1989, Scott resolved to set up his own trekking agency vowing to pay the porters and other staff double the going rate and to improve working conditions. Porters' loads were reduced and clothing purchased to combat the cold and rain.

Scott has climbed the Seven Summits, the highest peak on each of all seven continents. He is a past President of the Alpine Club and was made a CBE in 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1999 he received the Royal Geographical Society Patron’s Gold Medal.

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