Rigorous Alpine style with minimum gear – Doug Scott
Doug Scott (born in 1941) is – with Sir Chris Bonington – England’s most successful high-altitude mountain climber of the 1970s and 1980s. In all, he has taken part in 45 expeditions in Asia and reached 40 summits there. As many as twenty of these he climbed via new routes or for the first time in the Alpine style. Except in 1975 on Everest, he carried out all of his climbs and expeditions in the lightweight or Alpine style – without artificial oxygen.
Not held back by accidents
Even as a 12-year-old, Scott began climbing in the English Black Rocks (Derbyshire). In 1958, he spent his first season in the Alps, during which he ended his ascent of the Aiguille de Peigne with a 25-metre fall. But already in 1961, he led eleven routes around Chamonix for the English Mountain Association. Until the mid-sixties Scott was active in his homeland and in the Alps. In 1970, he successfully completed the first British ascent of »Salathé« in California’s Yosemite National Park with Peter Habeler. Then in 1974, there followed Scott’s first great expedition success; under the leadership of Chris Bonington, the first ascent of the Changabang (6864 m) in the Garhwal-Himalayas was successful. A year later, Bonington then led the British Everest expedition during which Scott, with Dougal Haston, completed the first ascent of Everest’s south-west wall and thereby the first British ascent of Mount Everest. Scott became famous above all for the first ascent of the extremely difficult Ogre (7285 m) in Karakoram with Chris Bonington. Scott broke both legs when abseiling down and had to spend days crawling down from the mountain. Not until 2001 was the second ascent of the Ogre achieved, by an expedition led by Thomas Huber.
From Commander to President
In 1994, Doug Scott was awarded the »Commander of the British Empire« (CBE) by the Queen for his achievements. Between 1999 and 2001, he was President of the British Alpine Club. These days, Scott lives with his wife in the English county of Cumbria and works with his »Community Action Nepal« charity, which endeavours to improve the living conditions of the Nepalese mountain population. In addition, he is the 2009 President of the panel of judges for the new edition of the Piolets d’Or, the »mountain climber Oscars«.
