Up and About

Born in Nottingham in 1941, Doug Scott began climbing in Derbyshire when he was thirteen and without any obvious plan in it was soon discovering the cliffs of Snowdonia, Scotland, the Alps and the Dolomites. He completed his first Alpine season at the age of eighteen. In 1965, aged twenty-three, he went on his first organised expedition, to the Tibesti Mountains of Chad. It was to be the first of many trips to the high mountains of the world. On 24 September 1975, he and his climbing partner Dougal Haston became the first Britons to reach the summit of Mount Everest, via the formidable South-West Face, and they became national heroes. In total, Scott made forty-two expeditions to the high mountains of Asia, reaching the summits of forty peaks. With the exception of his ascent of Everest, he made all his climbs in lightweight or alpine style and without the use of supplementary oxygen. Scott was made a CBE in 1994. He was a president of the Alpine Club, and in 1999 he received the Royal Geographical Society Patron’s Gold Medal. In 2011 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Piolets d’Or, during the presentation of which his mountaineering style was described as ‘visionary’. In 1995 he founded Community Action Nepal (CAN), a UK-based registered charity whose aim is to help mountaineers to support the mountain people of Nepal. Up until his death in December 2020, Scott continued to climb, write and lecture, avidly supporting the work of CAN. He is the author of six books, including Up and About and The Ogre. Kangchenjunga is his final book.

'"Up and About" is an understatement. In this book are clear and comprehensive accounts of some of the most dangerous things it's possible to do. From winning a baby show in Nottingham to taking on the most perilous rock faces in the world this is a full and fascinating portrait of one of the great figures of mountaineering. A man for whom no challenge went unanswered.' – Michael Palin

• Preface; The First Age; Chapter One: Wildchild; Chapter Two: The Canal; The Second Age; Chapter Three: Empires; Chapter Four: History Lessons; The Third Age; Chapter Five: Jan; Chapter Six: Atlas; Chapter Seven: Dolomites; Chapter Eight: Tibesti; Chapter Nine: Hindu Kush; Chapter Ten: Strone; The Fourth Age; Chapter Eleven: A Changing World; Chapter Twelve: Yosemite; Chapter Thirteen: Baffin; Chapter Fourteen: Don; Chapter Fifteen: Everest Again; Chapter Sixteen: Changabang; Chapter Seventeen: Tragedy in the Pamirs; Chapter Eighteen: Strategy and Tactics; Chapter Nineteen: Everest Regained; Epilogue; Acknowledgements; Bibliography; Index.