Mountain Guru: The Life of Doug Scott, by Catherine Moorehead
– A Book Review by Mike Nash, a member of Caledonia Ramblers –
Doug Scott was a preeminent climber, mountaineer and philanthropist of the last half-century. In 1975, with Dougal Haston, he made the first British ascent of Mount Everest, which they achieved via a new route on the southwest face. Summiting late in the day, they were forced to bivouac near the summit with their bottled oxygen depleted and not even a down jacket, the highest ever survived by humans. This was one of three highlights in a crucial five-year period of Scott’s five-decade long professional mountaineering life. The others were in 1977 on The Ogre, when he survived an epic descent with two broken legs, and in 1979 on Kangchenjunga, alpine style without bottled oxygen. The latter two climbs were the subjects of Scott’s last two eponymous books, which I reviewed in Cloudburst: Fall/Winter 2018 (The Ogre)1 and Fall/Winter 2022 (Kangchenjunga)2. Any of these achievements might have been enough for most climbers, but Scott’s life encompassed so much more than that. According to Catherine Moorehead, author of this authorized biography, by the late 1970s, Scott’s “ethical belief and self-perception formed the basis for the next twenty years of high climbs scarcely equalled in mountaineering history.”
Scott died of brain cancer in late 2020 at the age of 79, and this work was produced posthumously. The biographer was herself an accomplished outdoorsperson, author, teacher, and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Scottish-born, she was educated at Edinburgh University, travelled widely in many countries, led mountaineering expeditions in Central Asia, and completed all of Scotland’s Munros in 1996. She helped edit The Ogre, and she edited and finished Kangchenjunga after Scott’s death. Her biography of Scott is a monumental work that took three years to research, with two indexes, a bibliography, end notes, a timeline of climbs and expeditions, nine map pages covering Scott’s exploits spanning much of the globe, inline B&W photographs and a 42-plate colour insert.
The book does not follow a straight timeline, instead focusses on distinct aspects of Scott’s life as he moves around the world in a bewildering array of often disparate ventures. The level of detail is such that a casual reader looking for a simple adventure story might find it overwhelming. That is especially the case in the early chapters with the chronicling of Scott’s formative years in the English Midlands city of Nottingham. For me, this was a bonus, having grown up in the neighbouring city of Leicester in the same post-WW2 era as Scott. I could easily relate to the environment and its influences on the children of working-class people of that era, even though our paths took different courses.
Those paths were to intersect, however, on November 11th, 1997 when I hosted the then 56-year old Doug Scott in Prince George for his presentation of his Seven Summits climbs.
When I met him at the airport a few hours before his evening talk to a full house at the University of Northern British Columbia, his immediate request to me was: “take me to the climbing gym,” that being his preferred way to relax. Alas, it was Remembrance Day, and when we arrived at the city’s only climbing gym it was closed for the statutory holiday, thus missing the opportunity for one of the world’s climbing legends put his stamp on the facility. Scott had an oversized duffle bag with him full of books for sale, which I tried and failed to lift in the airport parking lot. His talk was splendid, in keeping with his reputation for strong presentations (especially when fundraising), plus he graciously agreed to an informal gathering of local volunteers and outdoors folk at my place afterwards.
Scott was the opening keynote speaker at the 1997 Banff Mountain Film Festival, which I had attended a week or so earlier and which had led to our arranging his stop in Prince George. The moderator had introduced Scott to the packed audience in the Banff Centre’s Eric Harvey Theatre with a long list of his accomplishments, before handing the stage to Scott with a grand flourish, “and this man ain’t done yet!” Prophetic words that become apparent in reading this biography. It was 21 years later that I next spoke with a visibly older Doug Scott at the 2018 Banff Mountain Book Festival when he signed my copy of The Ogre, a work that combines an enthralling survival story with natural and human histories of the region. The latter reflects Scott’s lifelong interest in the people and places he visited.
Scott’s climbing and adventuring is only half of his story, as he devoted many years to developing a successful grass-roots charity, Community Action Nepal (CAN), providing schools and health posts in remote parts of Nepal; as well as a related community-supportive trekking venture. Then, at a time when he could have simply been enjoying his retirement and the large organic garden at his Lake District cottage, he renewed his CAN charitable work with a vengeance in the aftermath of the devastating 2015 Nepal earthquake. The extent to which he is revered in Nepal for this is revealed in a striking CAN tribute to him.3
Scott’s accomplishments are too many to list here, for that read Catherine Moorehead’s book which, according to her, is more accurate, especially regarding dates, than Scott’s own 2015 autobiography, Up and Away! The book’s publisher speaks of Scott as being “a legend among mountaineers” and his expeditions as “unparalleled achievements” and of Moorehead capturing “the extraordinary drama.” The publisher aptly goes on to say that Moorehead “uncovers the elusive man behind the obsessive mountaineer. From his rumbustious youth in Nottingham through two tempestuous marriages to a secure third marriage, she shows how Scott matured in thought and action as his formidable global reputation increased.” Scott’s many awards included a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), Royal Geographic Society Gold Medal, Piolet d’Or Lifetime Achievement, and UIAA Honorary Member. The RGS and Piolet d’Or awards were the ones that were important to him personally, while the others helped with his charitable fundraising.
Scott was no stranger to Canada and to British Columbia, with four pioneering expeditions to the big walls of Baffin Island in the 1970s, as well as the first ascent of the Southeast Chimney of Mount Waddington in 1978, and the first winter ascent of the Grand Central Couloir of Mount Colonel Foster in January 1985. On the summit of Colonel Foster, Scott spoke of “an unusual degree of euphoria and wellbeing,” and of his belief that survival was “letting the external environment become part of you, and letting it adjust your will accordingly.” This hints at Scott’s interest in eastern philosophies, especially Buddhism, and the double entendre of the book’s title. In concert with his final Banff appearance, Scott visited old climbing friends in BC in October 2018 and gave CAN fundraising presentations in North Vancouver, Squamish, Saltspring Island and Courtenay. –
Mountain Guru: The Life of Doug Scott by Catherine Moorehead, foreword by Stephen Venables; Birlinn Ltd, October 2023; ISBN: 9781780278315.
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Mike Nash is a longtime contributor to Cloudburst and is the author of four books.
2. https://cloudburst.mountainclubs.org/2022/11/kangchenjunga-the-himalayan-giant/
3. https://www.canepal.org.uk/tribute
Footnotes:
Doug Scott | Kapadia Interviews: 57 mins
CAN An Evening of Celebration 3h34m
Related Interest:
Tony Streather | The Kapadia Interviews 100 mins
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A bit about Mike Nash, the book review contributor:
Mike Nash is the author of Outdoor Safety & Survival (Rocky Mountain Books 2012), The Mountain Knows No Expert – George Evanoff [1], Outdoorsman and Contemporary Hero (Dundurn 2009), Exploring Prince George – A Guide to North Central B.C. Outdoors (Rocky Mountain Books 2004, 2007), and Outdoor Safety and Survival in British Columbia’s Backcountry (self-published 2007). As well, Mike has written over 500 newspaper and magazine articles on outdoor-related topics including a ten-year northern perspective column for Cloudburst (1990s) and a ten-year newspaper column that led to his first book about Prince George and north central BC.
Mike was a government-appointed board member of British Columbia’s Forest Practices Board (2008-2014), a board member with the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program for the Peace Region (2007-2015), and a government-appointed lay councillor for the Association of BC Forest Professionals (2002-2005). He was an independent member of the Prince George Land and Resource Management Plan (1993-2005) and as part of that process he was a principal proponent of several new protected areas (now parks) in the mountains east of Prince George. He represented the FMCBC in the Herrick Creek Local Resource Use Plan (1991-2005) and British Columbia’s Commercial Backcountry Recreation Policy (1991-1993). Mike has also been involved with many other local and regional committees and advisory groups over the past 30 years.
Mike’s long interest in outdoor and workplace safety began with five years as a volunteer with Prince George Search & Rescue soon after moving there, and culminated with his most recent book. Along the way, he has presented and guest-lectured many outdoor safety seminars for the University of Northern BC, the College of New Caledonia, and others.
Mike was a registered member of the British Computer Society (MBCS) for many years, and before moving west in 1978 he was the supervisor of communications software for Air Canada in Toronto. Giving up big city life for the northern outdoors, he rounded out a 33-year career in information technology with a 20-year stint working as a systems analyst for the forest industry in Prince George.
[1] George Evanoff was a northern regional director and instructed avalanche courses for the FMCBC. George died in a grizzly bear encounter in the mountains east of Prince George in late October 1998.
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