Douglas Scott CBE (1941 - 2020)

Doug Scott was one of the most remarkable mountaineers of all time. He made 45 expeditions to the high mountains of Asia, reaching the summit of 40 peaks. Around half of these were first ascents, made in his inimitable Alpine Style. As part of Chris Bonington’s Everest Expedition in 1975, he became the first Englishman to stand on the summit of Everest. Doug also reached the highest peaks on all seven continents – a feat he related at the Society in his Monday night lecture, Seven Summits, in 1997.

Doug received the Society’s prestigious Patron’s medal in 1999, for ‘mountaineering and expanding the knowledge of mountain regions.’ This was the culmination of a long relationship with the Society. In 1966, while Doug was a teacher in Nottingham, he received an expedition research grant from the Society, to journey to the summit of Cilo Dağı, the highest mountain in Turkey.

In his later years, Doug founded and continually supported Community Action Nepal, a charity he established to help the mountain peoples of Nepal – constructing over fifty schools, health posts and community development projects since its inception.

Full tributes for Doug can be found on his website, via The Guardian, The Independent, and Community Action Nepal. An obituary will be published in The Geographical Journal in due course.