DOUG SCOTT
Born to a lower-middle-class family 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 and they became national heroes. In total, Scott has 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 has made all his climbs in lightweight or alpine style and without the use of artificial oxygen. Scott was made a CBE in 1994. He is a former president of the Alpine Club, and in 1999 he received the Royal Geographical Society Patron’s Gold Medal. In 2011 he was awarded the Piolets d’Or Lifetime Achievement award, 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 which aims to help mountaineers support the mountain people of Nepal. Scott continues to climb, write and lecture, avidly supporting the work of CAN.
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As darkness fell, Scott and Haston scraped a small cave in the snow 100 metres below the summit and survived the highest bivouac ever – without bottled oxygen, sleeping bags and, as it turned out, frostbite. For Doug Scott, it was the fulfilment of a fortune-teller’s prophecy given to his mother: that her eldest son would be in danger in a high place with the whole world watching. Scott and Haston returned home national heroes with their image splashed across the front pages. Scott went on to become one of Britain’s greatest ever mountaineers, pioneering new climbs in the remotest corners of the globe. His career spans the golden age of British climbing from the 1960s boom in outdoor adventure to the new wave of lightweight alpinism throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In Up and About, the first volume of his autobiography, Scott tells his story from his birth in Nottingham during the darkest days of war to the summit of the world.
‘At its finest moments climbing allows me to step out of ordinary existence into something extraordinary, stripping me of my sense of self-importance.’
Surviving the unplanned bivouac without oxygen near the summit of Everest widened the range of what and how he would climb in the future. In fact, Scott established more climbs on the high mountains of the world after his ascent of Everest than before. Those climbs will be covered in the second volume of his life and times.
ISBN 9 7 8 1 9 1 0 2 4 0 4 1 0
9 7 81910 240410 > Front cover: Dougal Haston on the south summit of Everest, 1975. Photo: Doug Scott Author photo: Chris Bonington.
At dusk on 24 September 1975, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first Britons to reach the summit of Everest as lead climbers on Chris Bonington’s epic expedition to the mountain’s immense south-west face.
Vertebrate Publishing, Sheffield www.v-publishing.co.uk
THE HARD ROAD TO EVEREST £24.00
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THE HARD ROAD TO EVEREST
DOUG SCOTT
Published by Vertebrate Publishing, Sheffield. www.v-publishing.co.uk
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THE HARD ROAD TO EVEREST
First published in 2015 by Vertebrate Publishing. Vertebrate Publishing Crescent House, 228 Psalter Lane, Sheffield S11 8UT, UK. www.v-publishing.co.uk Copyright © Doug Scott 2015. Doug Scott has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as author of this work. Cover photo: Dougal Haston on the south summit of Everest, 1975. Photo: Doug Scott. Photography by Doug Scott unless otherwise credited A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-1-910240-41-0 (Hardback) ISBN: 978-1-910240-42-7 (Ebook) All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanised, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologise for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition. Design and production by Nathan Ryder. Vertebrate Graphics Limited. www.v-graphics.co.uk Vertebrate Publishing is committed to printing on paper from sustainable sources.
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Printed and bound in the UK by T. J. International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall.
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CONTENTS
Preface ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi
THE 1ST AGE Ch.1 ..... WARCHILD � �������������������������������������������������������������������� 1 Ch.2 ..... THE CANAL ����������������������������������������������������������������� 19
THE 2ND AGE Ch.3 ..... EMPIRES ��������������������������������������������������������������������� 49 Ch.4 ..... HISTORY LESSONS ����������������������������������������������������� 67
THE 3RD AGE Ch.5 ..... JAN ����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 87 Ch.6 ..... ATLAS � ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 107 Ch.7 ..... DOLOMITES � �������������������������������������������������������������� 125 Ch.8 ..... TIBESTI ���������������������������������������������������������������������� 147 Ch.9 ..... HINDU KUSH � ������������������������������������������������������������� 165 Ch.10 ... STRONE � �������������������������������������������������������������������� 189
THE 4TH AGE
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Ch.11 .... A CHANGING WORLD ������������������������������������������������ Ch.12 .... YOSEMITE � ����������������������������������������������������������������� Ch.13 .... BAFFIN ���������������������������������������������������������������������� Ch.14 .... DON � �������������������������������������������������������������������������� Ch.15 .... EVEREST AGAIN �������������������������������������������������������� Ch.16 .... CHANGABANG � ���������������������������������������������������������� Ch.17 .... TRAGEDY IN THE PAMIRS ����������������������������������������� Ch.18 .... STRATEGY AND TACTICS ������������������������������������������ Ch.19 .... EVEREST REGAINED � �������������������������������������������������
217 231 249 277 297 319 331 349 363
Epilogue ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Acknowledgements ����������������������������������������������������������������� Bibliography ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� Index � ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
385 391 392 394
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To Jan, Michael, Martha and Rosie.
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All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. As You Like It, William Shakespeare
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PREFACE
Here are a few observations about writing an autobiography starting with a chance remark I made to Dai Davidson, my local plumber, who had his head under the floorboards of my office as I passed by clutching a sheaf of papers. ‘You’re so lucky to be working with your hands, Dai.’ He withdrew his head and looked up at me for a second or two. ‘Are you telling me that I can’t do your job and anyone could do mine? You are working with your hands, it’s all the bloody same man.’ Dai’s reply gave me pause for thought. Writers often come across as a pretentious lot but I could see there wasn’t a huge difference between writers and tradesmen; both have to conceive what it is they want their hands to achieve. First the thought, then the action and the end result will depend on the clarity of that conception. A prerequisite seems to be intensity of experience – something that occurs regularly in the mountains. This reminded me of when I was avalanched on Mazeno Peak in Pakistan. Rattling down a 500-metre gully, with time suspended, I found myself observing everything I experienced, as though from a bubble. There was no fear, just a series of impressions: tumbling down over rock and ice cliffs, wondering at how resilient the human body is and that I was still alive, turning this way and that, my whole weight bouncing off my right ankle. There was no pain, but I noted the situation was serious. I was then in space, clearing a step, sliding with the snow but unaware of the speed of my descent; I had time to register it was like being up with Leo Dickinson in his hot air balloon, not aware of the wind because we were moving at the same speed. I bumped gradually to a halt, partially buried on the glacier below but able to clear the snow away from my face, release the waist belt on my rucksack and breathe more easily. There are other ways to have intense experiences. At an Edvard Munch art exhibition I was amazed to discover the lengths the artist would go to in order xi
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to generate creativity through denial and suffering. I was left wondering how valid it is to represent the manifestations of self-induced neuroses. I seemed to write best when I could forget myself, or at least go beyond myself, something I managed when I wrote stories for my children from the mountains, often about a character I called ‘Warlock’ – my alter ego, but a better version ruled by conscience. That, of course, was private stuff, like my diaries and letters written from the perilous mountains like a condemned man in his cell or a soldier sitting in the trenches. What writing might climbers do at Base Camp, to friends and family, if such words were only to be read when dead? To communicate all that was good about their shared lives and make honest confessions that would otherwise be too awkward to face: parents taken for granted, wife abandoned or kids neglected. If we were aware of our mortality, if we remembered all the time that we are going to die, then we would deal with a huge amount we put to one side and write about it more honestly. This autobiography is a good chance for me to sort it all out even if everything is not included. All I have to do now is overcome the disease of tomorrow and put pen to paper. The best antidote to that in the past has been naked ambition but at seventy-four that is starting to weaken. Hopefully, I will be able to keep the muse alive at the prospect of clearing more junk out of the way and creating more space for good things to happen. There is always the chance that others will find what I have to say of interest – I hope so. I began climbing when I was a schoolboy. It feels like someone else started me off; he then turned into quite another person before changing again. Now I feel a need to turn full circle, certainly as far as my understanding of climbing is concerned. Children have something to show us, something that becomes obscured with the passage of time; anyone who came to climbing an innocent and of his own volition might benefit from looking back to those early years. I wonder now at the spontaneous antics of my youth. It takes more than a cursory glance to see how it really was; only with a big effort am I right there, hands grazed and bloody from days on gritstone, my fingers smelling of lichen, my face wind-blasted and my limbs weary from storms on Kinder or cold, wet bivvies under boulders on Stanage with bacon and grit butties for breakfast and stews reeking of paraffin fumes for dinner, of singing in pubs and at the back of the bus back to Nottingham on Sunday nights. With these memories of smell, touch and taste of those distant times, like a film clip it starts to roll and I am right there, my memory sparked into life, seeing faces of who was there and a sense as well of who I was.
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I see in the past the clues of who I am now. That boy, who seemed like someone else, now seems like me again; I must just let these film clips run or I will get it all wrong. I must also admit I am lucky to have the carrot of this book to keep me at it through a million distractions. It is a real privilege to be paid to check myself out. I find I can’t recall anything of my first three years and neither can I pinpoint any specific reason that led me to climb in the first place, so whether or not it was fate that I should have this ‘rat’ in my gut, or whether it was my destiny to wander the world’s mountain ranges, I don’t know, but perhaps something will emerge from what follows – so look out for clues! Here is a warning to any young lad thinking of taking the mountain path: it’s very hard to get off – I’ve tried but I’m happily resigned to walk and climb until I die as things are right now. The rational among you may shiver: ‘My God, he’s got a death wish.’ My competitors might once have worried that I would be around forever, but now they can take satisfaction in my revelations of weakness. Admirers may feel let down – well, hard luck; my friends and kindred spirits will remain so, however close I get to the bone. What am I letting myself in for? At one time, in the beginning, I would jump in feet first and ask questions later. Now I’ve got the bad habit of preparing the ground ahead – meaning reducing the risks by knowing what’s coming. I’ve pulled a few books off my shelf to see what others have said, the book falling open at the apposite pages, as they do sometimes when you’re really going for it. I got this from Ascent in 1976, where Tom Higgins responded to David Roberts’ assertion that most autobiographies were somewhat banal and predictable. Tom found that Walter Bonatti at least could lift his spirits; I would like to do that, of course. On another shelf, another word of caution, this time from Alfred Richard Orage, socialist and editor of The New Age, about art as a means of power: ‘To express himself is not enough; he wishes to impress himself. Readers feel towards him the repulsion as well as the attraction of the snake for the bird. Power they instinctively feel is there, and they are afraid of it. Style is only the device adopted by great writers to make their power more attractive. Style is power made gracious; we must write as if Homer and Demosthenes were to be our judges, as if our lives depended upon this approval … All perfection is the fruit of sacrifice.’ That had me worried – immobilised and powerless for days. But I recall that I failed my English O level twice, so any style I have should be transparent at best and unlikely to pull the wool over any one’s eyes. I turned to Beelzebub’s
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Tales to His Grandson, opened it at once at the page in the chapter ‘The Arousing of Thought’, where George Gurdjieff gives his opinion of professional writers: ‘First of all, I am not young; I have already lived so much that I have been in my life, as it is said, “not only through the mill but through all the grindstones”; and secondly, I am in general not writing so as to make a career for myself, or so as to plant myself, as is said “firm-footedly”, thanks to this profession, which, I must add, in my opinion provides many openings to become a candidate d-i-r-e-c-t for “Hell” … knowing nothing whatsoever themselves, they write all kinds of “claptrap” and thereby automatically acquiring authority … ’ (Then again, Gurdjieff went out of his way to make his writings obscure. ‘I bury the bone so deep that the dogs have to scratch for it.’) Though I have grasped the point, I hesitate and consult the I Ching, throwing hexagram 63. After completion, ‘in principle, everything stands systematised, and it is only in regard to details that success is still to be achieved … everything proceeds as if of its own accord and this can too easily tempt us to relax and let things take their course without troubling over details. Symptoms of decay are bound to be the result; the need is for unremitting perseverance and caution.’ It is obviously no good just ‘spitting it out’; I am going to have to remind myself to write from the heart to express the facts. Are you impressed? If not, try this from Tolstoy which is more encouraging: ‘Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feeling to which men have arisen.’ And where do these ‘highest and best feelings’ arise? According to people living on the edge of existence, like the Caribou shaman Igjugarjuk: ‘All true wisdom is only to be found far from the dwellings of men, in the great solitudes; and it can only be obtained through suffering. Suffering and privation are the only things that can open the mind of man to that which is hidden from his fellows.’ That must leave a familiar taste on the palate of anyone who has pushed themselves to the very limit on any weekend on our British hills or crags. As long as it was the limit, they will know what Igjugarjuk is talking about. They will have come back physically tired from their weekend’s exertions, but inwardly glowing, enough to see themselves through the next week at work. So, here I am, back at my desk, to live again the pain and pleasure, the heartache and happiness, though I doubt if you will be interested in all of it, and I wouldn’t have the courage to tell you all of it anyway. This memoir is important, according to my Buddhist friends. They tell me that everything I have done will be ‘up for review’ on passing out of this life into the next, when I will have to pay for my sins by living again the pain I inflicted on others. I understand
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that it’s a good idea to become aware of just how much my actions have affected others, not only to reduce the future shock but also to avoid thoughtless actions now: humility before senility, turning passion into compassion. Just as I have committed to fight the disease of tomorrow and get down to this review of my climbing I was called away yet again, to Tierra del Fuego, where I read Uttermost Part of the Earth by E. Lucas Bridges. It includes a very perceptive observation made by the sculptor and Arabist Rom Landau: ‘most of us cherish imaginary romantic notions about ourselves and only rarely succeed in breaking through the crust of self-deception … In books of an autobiographical background, an occasional word of self-criticism is usually outweighed by pages of self-praise, however cunningly disguised.’ Again, I hesitate, with this reminder to be honest, wondering if I am up to it, knowing the truth is relative to experience. Have I enough experience, for instance, to gauge the effect on those I write about? I know how I have been affected by what others have written about me in their autobiographies. I know there are many other climbing friends and acquaintances better equipped, far more honest than I, to write such a book about themselves – those of my friends who have passed on and never bothered, and those that live without much ego, living in the now, without the inclination to review their lives. And if they did, the tales they would tell would be as important and interesting as any of mine. They might well be told with better recall and more skill than I can muster. For all these reasons, and more, I hesitate to write about the fact that from an early age I never felt so vital, more alive or spontaneously joyous, as when off with the gang, out into the countryside, the quiet of the forest, watching wildlife by the canal or lake, going a little further each time, learning to pace the journey and to find the way back home. One thing led to another; there was never any obvious plan: the country round my home, the Peak District, the mountains of Snowdonia, Scotland, the Alps and the Himalaya, always a little further, no turning back, hooked on steeper ground and higher summits, to the highest place, Everest, and beyond. Beyond Everest? Yes, when I discovered there is more to be gained with less – fewer people, less equipment and less cost enabling more journeys, one after the other, twice a year or more, constantly prepared physiologically and psychologically for life in the thin cold air. I was driven to go where ‘no one had gone before’. I came to know, as Don Munday did, hunting down The Unknown Mountain, that ‘the joy of pioneering can be as transcendent as that of a composer of music is above one who is merely able to play it.’
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Part of it was sheer curiosity, to know the lie of the land between peaks I’d climbed, putting another piece of the jigsaw into place, just as the old surveyors recorded details within the triangle of their calculations. I gained this knowledge, both inner and outer, among the most dramatic and beautiful landscapes in the world helped along by local people so attuned to life in the high Himal and elsewhere. Over the years I came to make a strong connection with these people who helped me climb their mountains and eventually responded to their request for help in improving conditions of labour in the climbing industry and the health and education in their villages. This was a good move, since it guaranteed me a continuing presence in their magnificent mountains and helped me know more about them and the nature of things, as if waking up now and again from a deep sleep, if only for a moment, to glimpse the infinite beauty and wonder of what is normally hidden, as Shakespeare explained it: Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious court? Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, The seasons’ difference, as the icy fang And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind, Which, when it bites and blows upon my body, Even till I shrink from cold, I smile and say “This is no flattery: these are counsellors That feelingly persuade me what I am.” Sweet are the uses of adversity … And this our life exempt from public haunt Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, Sermons in stones and good in everything. I would not change it. As You Like It
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THE 1ST AGE At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. As You Like It, William Shakespeare
If he awakens hungry in the night he signals with a soft grunt if he cannot find her breast; she will then give it to him and again his well-being will be re-established, without ever having come near to straining the limits of his continuum. His life, full of action, is consistent with the lives lived by millions of his predecessors and meets the expectations of his nature. The Continuum Concept, Jean Liedloff
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Douglas Keith Scott, aged just eighteen months in November 1942.
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WARCHILD
In about the seventh year the changing of the teeth indicate that the ‘life forces of the body have completed their first task – the building of a physical organism. The spiritual forces that have been brought from the prenatal forces are still strong … The child is mobile, spritely and unselfconscious.’ The Number Seven, A.E. Abbot
As a teenager my mother Joyce visited a fortune-teller who told her she would marry a man in uniform with shiny buttons and have three sons, the eldest of whom would be in trouble in a shelter, very high up – and that the whole world would be watching. Mum married a policeman, on 1 June 1940. I was born a year later, almost to the day. She had two more sons and many years later I survived a risky bivouac just below the summit of Everest. Thereafter Mum was much more relaxed when I went climbing. Later I discovered she’d been born at the same moment as Edmund Hillary. There may be something going on out there – a force propelling us down pre-determined lines, a hidden potential, much greater than outward appearances would suggest. Mum was born in a terraced house that opened on to Queen’s Grove, a cobbled street quite near to Nottingham’s Midland railway station in an area called The Meadows. Grandma Gregory would scrub the front steps to keep them spotless. The front door, with its polished brass knob, led directly into the front room, the best in the house, where only the doctor seemed to be invited. The rest of the world entered from the backyard where there was an outside lavatory and a galvanised bath hanging between the back door and a sash window. Not much light came into the back; the yard was below street level and a few feet away from the high wall of the neighbouring timber merchant. 1
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At the end of Queen’s Grove was the Grove Tavern. Every evening, and lunchtime on Sundays, Gran would walk across with a large white jug and bring it back frothing over with stout. Grandad sat by the fire, wheezing and coughing into a pot. He wasn’t a well man after years of smoking up to a hundred cigarettes a day, a habit he developed fighting in the Great War. Life in the trenches and years working as a coal miner and then in a slaughterhouse had left him with arthritis. Once a week, the bath was brought in and filled with kettles and pots of boiling water from off the kitchen range. A clothes horse was arranged around it with towels and blankets to give Grandad some privacy while he took his bath. With Grandad sick, Grandma did well to bring up three children on less than four pounds per week; there was very little state support. I remember visiting Gran and being treated to sugar butties, white bread and margarine with sugar sprinkled on. But despite the hardships, there was always something going on with my uncles Roy and Keith and all their friends milling about the house. Keith, seven years younger than Mum, was called up for National Service and he looked most dashing in his RAF uniform. Roy, always fit, swam and played water polo for Nottingham. My father George came from a sporting family; his great-grandfather had been secretary of Notts County FC and his dad won many sporting trophies. My grandfather had died in 1938 from a burst peptic ulcer. Grandma Scott had stayed on in their comfortable bungalow in Wollaton Park until a woman latched on to her, offering her companionship in her loneliness. Grandma Scott was gradually swindled of all her money and with nothing left to pay the rent ended up in complete penury in a condemned house on Arthur Terrace in Radford, not far from my school. As an older boy I used to cycle round once a week to visit. Dad was particularly annoyed Grandma had more or less given away the ‘family silver’ – sporting trophies that he and his dad and grandad had won playing football, cricket and athletics. I would sit with her on a chair at the kitchen table where she lit a candle since she rarely had enough money for the electric meter. She usually had a blanket over her shoulders; coal was rationed and too expensive to burn all the time. I did a few chores, bringing in coal, lighting the fire and checking to make sure the outside lavatory was in working order; then I would report back to Mum and Dad on the state of the house and Grandma’s complaints about the neighbours, who seemed to be prostitutes. Although Dad visited Gran regularly to carry out various plumbing repairs and once to put in a new fireplace, there always seemed to be quite a tension between Dad and his mother, although I could never work out why. Mum seemed to write Gran off as being simpleminded for letting herself be used and brought down in the world. Gran was, however, kind to my brother and me 2
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WARCHILD
Doting parents in the back garden of 174 Charlbury Road in June 1941. The railway embankment and Dad’s bean poles in the background.
when she was asked to look after us if Mum went off to town or when Mum and Dad had a night out on holiday. Dad was educated at Lenton Secondary School and when he left as head boy was awarded the ‘Albert Ball Prize’, in honour of the handsome flying ace born and raised in Lenton. For his first job Dad was apprenticed to a motor mechanic. He also joined the Denman Street Lads’ Club where he started boxing, something he quickly mastered. On the strength of his boxing ability, Dad joined the Nottingham City Police Force even though he was half an inch below the required six feet in height. With encouragement from its famous chief constable Captain Athelstan Popkess, the Nottingham City Police boxing team became internationally famous. In 1938, after knocking out the German champion in Stuttgart, Dad became European police light-heavyweight boxing champion. ‘We have nothing to fear from Hitler with men like George Scott in our midst,’ was how one newspaper recorded it. There are plenty of tales of Dad as a bobby on the beat armed only with his truncheon, whistle and boxing skills. The latter came in useful breaking up a fracas with his friend and fellow boxer, PC Jerry Beaves, at a notorious pub on Denman Street. Bottles and chairs were flying around the room, but a few well-directed straight-arm jabs laid some brawlers out while the rest rushed for the door. After that the pub became quite respectable – or so the story goes. Another time, a dray horse bolted down Friar Gate towards a busy road junction. Dad ran alongside and pulled the horse’s head down by its reins. 3
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He received a police commendation for his quick thinking and was later promoted to sergeant, but never could pass his inspector’s exams. Mum had us all creeping round like mice while he studied for them. So I was born the son of a boxing champion, on 29 May 1941, having been conceived during the Battle of Britain at the start of a war whose outcome was wholly uncertain. For my parents and the city of Nottingham it was a life-anddeath struggle to preserve democracy and civilisation, yet my childhood seemed entirely normal. We lived on the edge of town in a semi-detached house on a cul-de-sac still lit with gas lamps at night, sandwiched between a railway embankment and a disused canal leading west out of the city. At the end of the road were miles of green fields to roam in and woods in which to make dens and climb trees for hours after school and on fine weekends. Beyond the woods were ponds and scrublands and gangs of youths from other communities who either became instant friends or with whom we fought running battles. There was Wollaton Pit with its slag heaps and workings to explore. Five miles away was the Hemlock Stone, thirty feet high and said to have been thrown by a goblin inhabiting Helsby Crag in Cheshire at his enemy on Nottingham Castle Rock. The stone had fallen short but it provided us with a good objective for long hikes. Dad had an allotment in farmer Frank Earp’s field only a short walk from our house. It got a direct hit during a bombing raid on 16 November 1940 and became a bomb crater, another casualty of war. In the same raid a bomb landed in the canal pond and though it failed to explode, the impact still sent pike and other fish over houses and on to the road and field. My mother must have found all this quite harrowing, carrying me in her womb without her mother or mother-in-law to help, wondering if she would be a victim of the next air raid. We shared an Anderson shelter of galvanised corrugated steel with next door. The inside was painted white and clay heaped on the outside. It was soon covered with grass and a cascade of aubrietia. The wailing of sirens had everyone along our road scurrying off, down into their shelters, except for the night of Good Friday 1941, at the bend in the road, when a woman called Maude Tomlinson was caught out and killed as a bomb destroyed her house just a few weeks before I was born. Altogether four houses were rebuilt and were always known as the ‘bombed buildings’. The worst raid was on the night of 8 to 9 May, when a hundred German aircraft attacked Nottingham, dropping 500 high-explosive bombs and thousands of incendiaries. Bastards! Our road escaped this time but there was terrible carnage in town where the Co-op bakery was hit and forty-nine people killed in the Co-op shelter. The situation at that time was dire. Although the Battle of Britain had been won and the British Empire still covered a quarter of the globe, Britain felt very much alone. The possibility of defeat 4
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was in most people’s minds since every time British armed forces met the Germans they got pushed back on land and sea. After the loss of Crete to a smaller German force, it seemed the Germans were unbeatable. A month after I was born the nation’s situation improved. Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union, and in December the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, bringing America into the war. Later I asked my parents whether in those dark days of 1940 and 1941 they expected Britain would be defeated. They both said they had every confidence Mr Churchill would pull them through and were quite disgusted when, after the war, he was not re-elected. Mum boasted I was a strong baby with powerful lungs, able to rock the crib across the bare boards of the bedroom floor from one wall to the other as I screamed for attention between feeds. She said the screaming was awful but Dr Loewenthal, an Austrian Jew who had escaped the Holocaust, warned Mum against spoiling me. Given that I have been screaming for attention ever since, it might be said the doctor had quite an influence on my future life, although not as much as that other Austrian, Adolf Hitler – and his war. Husbands were taken from wives and children into the armed forces, denying sons and daughters the firm hand of a father. I became something of a tearaway and Mum was only too pleased to have me out of house and into the woods and fields beyond. My parents were immensely proud of their infant son. They entered me in a local baby show in August 1942 when I was fifteen months old. As reported in the Nottingham Journal, I won my category; the actor Tod Slaughter, famous for playing Sweeney Todd, presented me with a rosette and the actress Patricia Hastings gave me a kiss. There was also a cash prize in the form of a National Savings Gift Token sent by post from the secretary of the West Bridgford Urban District Council to ‘Master Douglas Keith Scott as First Prize in the Holiday at Home Week, Bonniest Baby Competition, Class II.’ While some are born famous and some seek fame, others have fame thrust upon them, thanks, in my case, to doting parents. Even though there was a war on and our situation dire, it was a case of keep calm and carry on. In 1942 Dad was called up into the army, first in a Royal Artillery regiment but later, when his commanding officers recognised his natural sporting talents, transferred to the Army Physical Training Corps for the last three years of the war. Dad wasn’t just a boxer. He played football for Nottingham Boys at Lenton School and made the annual town swim from Wilford Bridge to Trent Bridge. He was an athlete too and later became an official for the Nottingham Amateur Athletics Association. The ideals of amateur sport ran through his veins. My earliest memories are of Dad returning on leave with his white canvas kitbag in a corner of the hallway and the shiny peak and regimental badge of 5
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‘Master Douglas Keith Scott, First Prize in the Holiday at Home Week, Bonniest Baby Competition, Class II.’
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his army cap on the clothes peg. In 1943 he came home on leave from the army with several wooden toys, including a rocking horse he had made and a sheet of plywood with a quote from Grantland Rice carved into it: For when the one great scorer comes To mark against your name He writes – not that you won or lost – But how you played the game.
It was the only wall-hanging in my otherwise spartan bedroom and stayed above my bed until I left for college. I can still picture Dad marching down the road at the end of the war wearing his khaki uniform with his kitbag on his shoulder and being scooped up. I can still feel the rough serge of his battledress top. He was given the usual demob suit. It was pinstripe and had sharp lapels, and came in useful later whenever I went to fancy dress parties as Al Capone. Although our house was rented and there was no support from family money, I never thought of our family as poor. By careful management of their finances, along with recycling and buying second-hand, my parents were able to provide all the necessities. Their generation was used to frugal living, having vivid memories of the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Compared to the terraced houses my grandparents occupied, we seemed quite well off in our semi-detached. I remember the blackout curtains and a Morrison shelter – a metal, box-like table – in the middle of the dining room. The walls were a dreary mix of old mustard and green paint but we could draw near to a fire of glowing coke, which was cheaper than coal. Just before bed a shovel of slag, or powdered coal, was heaped on which kept the fire alive until morning, taking the chill out of the air. There was no central heating. Dad fetched the coke from the Radford gasworks, two miles away, carrying the sack over the crossbar of his bike with me sitting on top. During the war and the period of austerity that followed there was a good deal of mutual support among neighbours and friends who all seemed to take pride in coping, finding a certain dignity in belt-tightening and an egalitarian lifestyle that put everyone in the same boat. The constant worry of war and the rationing of essential items made everyone more equal and the gap between rich and poor seem less. To celebrate VE Day, the end of hostilities in Europe on 8 May, everyone carried their tables and chairs into the centre of our road and filled them with sandwiches, cakes and jellies. Effigies of Hitler were burned, leaving small craters in the tarmac that got wider and deeper with each passing year. 7
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The Charlbury Road VE Day party. Mum is standing second from right, and Brenda Jones is the fourth child back facing the camera on the left-hand side of the table.
Nottingham had escaped the worst of the bombing with 179 people killed and 350 injured – nothing like the carnage in London, where 50,000 died, and other major cities like Liverpool. There were many British servicemen killed in action and several grieving families on our road. Troops returning home went through a stressful period of readjustment. Mr Boothwright next door came back emaciated from intense fighting in North Africa. My strongest memory of the war was Lord Haw-Haw being hanged for treason. His strange name stuck in my mind every time he came on the radio with the words, ‘Germany calling, Germany calling,’ denouncing Jews and urging us to surrender. I later discovered he wasn’t English at all, despite the accent, but was in fact an American-born Irishman, William Joyce, who had a terrible scar from ear to mouth from being slashed across the face at a Conservative election rally in the 1920s. The scar split open when he was hanged. Neighbours were always round to gossip over cups of tea and most evenings play cards on the green baize covering our steel table. All this stopped for the nine o’clock news as everyone listened to the latest progress of our troops in North Africa and Italy and after the Normandy landings in France. The wireless was always on and my parents were avid listeners. Dad’s favourite was Tommy Handley and his ITMA team – It’s That Man Again! I will always associate Sunday roast dinner with Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, starring Kenneth Horne and Richard Murdoch as senior staff officers battling red 8
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tape on a fictional RAF station. When the BBC put on Dick Barton, Special Agent after the war, every child on the street stopped playing just before 6.45 p.m. and rushed indoors to hear ex-commando Captain Richard Barton MC and his friends Jock and Snowy saving the nation night after night. The only problem was the timing; being indoors when it finished at 7 p.m. meant there was little excuse for not being in on time for bath and bed. Despite the privations of rationing everyone on our road ate well and seemed healthy. With so many children of a similar age, there was an endless series of parties and even with rationing there were always cakes and sandwiches left over and presents and prizes for the winners of musical chairs and pass-the-parcel. Children were given free bottles of cod liver oil and orange juice; once a day I was given a tablespoon full of glutinous Virol, said to be full of essential vitamins and other mysterious ingredients required by the body. Dad was adept at supplementing our meals with venison from Wollaton Park and rabbits and wood pigeon. Being a policeman probably helped with this. By the end of the long summer holidays we were covered in scratches from gathering blackberries along the railway embankment. Families climbed over their fences, crossed a ditch of stagnant water and waded into the prickly bushes clutching bags and basins before returning with them brimming with fruit. Mum put ours in the sink to soak and drew my attention to the little grubs that had floated out of the berries. It was a sure way to prevent me eating more than I brought home. Gardening and growing vegetables in allotments was a constant in Dad’s life. He encouraged Mum and later his sons to save every scrap of waste vegetable and other organic matter for the bean trench and compost heap. He grew a huge amount, not only vegetables but also tomatoes and soft fruit, in a relatively small space. I was naturally happiest imitating everything Dad did and was therefore subliminally inducted into gardening at a very early age. My parents fenced off the bottom of the garden for chickens. One Christmas Dad took the cockerel on to his lap and, after stroking it, wrung its neck for dinner, only the bird’s head came off and the cockerel escaped, running around the garden with blood spurting out of its neck. Early every morning the milkman came up our road in his horse-drawn cart leaving horse muck on the road and bottles of milk on the step. I can still hear the ring of Dad’s shovel on the tarmac, as he rushed out to scoop up precious manure for his vegetables and Mum’s roses. Mum quickly brought the milk into the house since the sparrows and starlings would peck through the cardboard cap to get at the cream. It was the cream Mum was after, to make butter and also cottage cheese after the cream had hung from the clothesline in a muslin bag for a day or two. Another of Mum’s seasonal jobs was blanching the runner beans, before salting them for the winter in large earthenware pots. 9
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Mum was a supervisor at the John Player cigarette factory when she became pregnant with me. Forever after she remained a housewife, always hard at work gardening, cooking, washing and mending clothes on the Singer sewing machine, knitting jumpers or darning socks over a Bakelite mushroom. Apart from visiting Dad at Larkhill near Stonehenge in Wiltshire during the war, Mum had hardly been further away from Nottingham than the east coast. Her world view was constrained by what she read in newspapers, heard on the wireless or gleaned from conversations with friends and neighbours. She put family first and was a little suspicious of everyone beyond it. When I nibbled at the rind on the thick wedges of Cheddar Mum bought, she’d warn me not to do it since ‘niggers had touched it.’ I had no idea what ‘niggers’ were; nor had my mum ever met anyone from Africa. Every so often gypsies would appear on the road, prompting an encounter between two very different worlds. The gypsies were usually youngish women with dark faces, long black hair and flashing eyes, wearing voluminous skirts, carrying a baby on one arm and a large wicker basket full of clothes pegs in the other. We all stopped play to gather round. Mum usually had a long chat with the gypsy woman who came to our door, before buying some pegs, but there was a sigh of relief when the nomadic gypsies moved on from our community, with its set values and codes of behaviour. Mum also spoke fearfully of the Earp’s farmhouse where, she said, they had ‘galloping consumption’. She also said it was haunted. Her anxiety impressed me, because I never did go to that farmhouse – not even into their orchard scrumping apples. I listened as Dad passed the time of day with Frank Earp. Frank had led a colourful life travelling around North America before the Great War, where he did some panning for gold. He had also suffered, having lost two daughters to tuberculosis and was later crippled after a dray horse bolted and the cart ran over his legs. After that he turned his tenanted farm into a market garden, letting Dad and other keen gardeners have strips of land at the beginning of hostilities so they could all ‘dig for victory’. Meals were always eaten sitting around the dining table. There was beef on Sunday with Yorkshire pudding, lots of gravy and our own potatoes and greens, usually followed by bread and butter pudding. There was more beef on Monday, with all the vegetables mixed and fried up as bubble and squeak, a simple meal because Monday was washday. There was enough leftover beef fat and gravy to have bread and dripping sandwiches with lots of salt for a few days. We had liver on Tuesday, tripe and onions on Wednesday, stew or belly pork on Thursday, fish on Friday, sausage and chips on Saturday. I never tasted cake better than Mum’s flapjack made from treacle. I never had a better dinner than Mum’s stew and dumplings made with parsley and so light and puffy, floating on the gravy; no bread made my mouth water more than 10
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Mum’s bread baked in the back oven with the aroma filling the house. I once asked Mum if she could make mashed potatoes like they did for school dinners. ‘How could you like potatoes from processed, powdered potato and not from our own, home-grown potatoes?’ she asked angrily, which made me think. There was a sudden evacuation of the kitchen when all the hot, sweet rice and milk in Mum’s new pressure cooker came spurting out of a failed valve and hit the ceiling, spraying the whole of the kitchen, including Mum, who then went back to using saucepans. There was always great consternation when the red gas meter, tucked away under the stairs, ran out of shilling pieces and the gas cooker went out, until more shillings were found after rummaging around handbags and coat pockets. Until her first washing machine arrived, Mum was kept busy boiling clothes in the steaming-hot gas copper, rubbing clothes and sheets down the washboard and finally rinsing off the soap in the dolly tub and putting them through the mangle. Then they were hung out on the clothes line, if it wasn’t raining, otherwise there would be clothes and sheets all over the house. Her workload only increased after my brother Brian arrived in April 1944. I wasn’t much help, quite the reverse, since I often caused her worry coming in late or going missing for hours at a time. Her constant lament was, ‘You will drive me into Mapperley, Douglas,’ when I finally reappeared, Mapperley being the local lunatic asylum, as such places were then called. The one advantage of Dad being away in the army was the chance for me to snuggle up in bed with Mum when it was freezing out, or after a bad dream, or when miserable with chicken pox. That came to an end when Dad was on leave. I would slip into their bed only for Dad to carry me back to mine, cold and alone in the empty room, cut off and miserable, especially when I had wet the bed. One night Dad gently led me back to bed from the landing where he had found me peeing down the stairs in my sleep. During the day I went off with the older boys along the canal or to ‘the land of ferns’, as we called it, and beyond to Bilborough and Strelley. I was drawn to open country; looking over the horizon, having unexpected encounters with other children and then, exhausted, finding my way home again. It gave me huge satisfaction. I remember going off with the gang in a new green coat Mum had saved up to buy for my fifth birthday. The older lads had an altercation with a gang of youths on a building site and I got caught in the crossfire, returning home caked in clay and crying with earache. Mum put me to bed with warm olive oil pouring out of my ears on to the pillow and the pain subsided. Mum’s usual remedies were Indian brandy and lemon in hot water for tummy troubles, Vicks and eucalyptus oil for chesty colds and, if that failed, I’d breathe in the steam from a basin of hot water and Friar’s Balsam from under a towel draped over my head. 11
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There were often hushed discussions about diphtheria, scarlet fever, polio and pneumonia, all of them a threat to life and limb – my first playmate, the neighbour’s three-year-old son, Philip Jones, died of pneumonia. In 1941 a patient had been successfully treated with penicillin but it was a few years before it was in common use. However, the National Health Service came into being in 1948 and Mum was quick to take advantage of it, having me admitted to hospital to have my tonsils removed and a year later having my ears syringed. Both have been perforated ever since. I was again admitted into hospital to have my sinuses drained, leaving me with a poor sense of smell. It was a half-hour walk to the shops and Mum would often persuade Brenda Jones, Philip’s sister, who was quite grown up and lived next door, to take me with her. I would go along on my tricycle, coming back with a stick of liquorice in my teeth, sucking a Sherbet Fountain out of a cardboard tube. Brenda was nine or ten and would tease me on the return journey, threatening to leave me, which had me in floods of tears. Eventually Brenda’s family left, never having got over the loss of Philip during the war. Our new neighbour was a Pole, Val Maciejewski, and his English wife Hazel. Val had fought for the Allies during the war and was now a hard-working electrician at Castle Donington power station. I often walked with my father up to the Raleigh Bicycle Company’s playing field where Dad was allowed to use the sporting facilities for training. In 1945 he had become British heavyweight amateur boxing champion and had set his sights on the 1948 Olympic Games. I would sit in the gym with its smell of leather punchbags as Dad and others slogged away at the big body-sized bags or rapidly pounded the smaller, rounder leather balls at head height, as they sprang back and forth. Skipping ropes swished through the air, flicking the boards, raising chalk dust as weightlifters hissed and groaned under their burden. I overhead the frightful tale of the the groundsman rushed to hospital after a rat ran up one trouser leg, bit him between the legs and then ran down the other. Eventually Dad had to come to terms with his age and the fact his wife wasn’t happy about him continuing to box; for a short time, it was a source of heated arguments. Mum was genuinely worried that Dad would suffer permanent injury since he was now boxing at heavyweight despite trying to diet down to light-heavyweight. So Dad gave up his Olympic ambitions for Mum and his family. At the end of every week he would put all his wages on the kitchen table for Mum to distribute. I was sometimes taken to see Dad box in ‘exhibition bouts’ with famous professionals of the time, Freddie Mills and Bruce Woodcock. This was usually in aid of local charities and to promote upcoming bouts. I became aware of the clear distinction between an amateur and a professional; there was 12
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Dad in a boxing pose, with the Army Physical Training Corps badge on his vest. He was British Army boxing champion in 1945.
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always the underlying assumption that those who boxed for money were not quite kosher – not true sportsmen. I don’t recall Dad making a big thing about it, beyond mentioning it in general conversation with friends. He was visibly disappointed if boxers, footballers or any other sporting personalities were featured in the newspapers for scandalous reasons. That was letting the sport down. I would sometimes walk alongside Mum pushing Brian in the pram around Wollaton Park, a journey of about four miles. Wollaton Park was a wonderful asset to the city with a seven-mile boundary wall that, according to Dad, took one bricklayer and his two apprentices seven years, seven months and seven days to build. There had been 2,000 American paratroopers camped on the park ready for D-Day and towards the end of the war we would see Italian and German prisoners of war lined up for exercise or being marched off to work on community projects. The centrepiece of the park was the Elizabethan Wollaton Hall, set on a man-made hill and sold to the city in 1925 by Lord Middleton to become a natural history museum. During good winters the grounds around the hall were a mecca for sledging, with parents and children trudging across the snow-covered fields from all the housing estates around about. There were also avenues of mature chestnut trees, and in the autumn, first with Dad and then with friends, we would scout around for perfectly weighted sticks to throw at the prickly fruit to knock it off. We’d take the chestnuts home and roast them on the fire, or in one of our dens. In 1946 I started Harrow Road primary school. The reception class teacher was Mrs Perrins, whose husband went down with his ship after being torpedoed by a U-boat. I remember the polished desks, the green checked tablecloths for when we had morning milk and lunch, the wooden bricks and Bakelite tubes. There was Annette Burton who couldn’t stop crying, a boy with greasy black hair who wouldn’t stop bullying and the screeching of chalk on board that made me shudder. We chanted the times tables, the only useful thing I learned in class. Mum had me learning the alphabet, which I would recite to Dad when he came home on leave; that helped me to read before I went to school. But I was never among the clever pupils, who were asked to write the number of milk bottles required on a slate and put it outside the classroom door. Nor was I the best-behaved pupil, certainly not in the eyes of the school dinner lady, Mrs Wall. Mum cycled to school one day to give me a message and asked Mrs Wall if she knew where I was. ‘If you ever find that little bugger, keep him away from me,’ she said. Mum questioned me later about this but I honestly had no idea what I’d done. Maybe I just had too much energy. I was forever running around the school playing fields, flowerbeds and outbuildings, one of a gang of kids in perpetual motion, chasing each other. The only 14
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time I sat still was when the teacher, for half an hour a day, read from Hans Christian Andersen. The whole class would sit rapt in the story; I have the clearest memory of those wonderful readings – like a familiar taste or smell. In the terrible winter of 1947 the snow was so deep it blocked our road completely and so we couldn’t get to school for three weeks. That was a magical time. I remember constant hot aches, building giant snowmen, igloos and a huge barricade, which survived long after the rest of the snow had gone. Dad persuaded the local blacksmith to make me a sledge with tubular steel runners that was incredibly fast. I had great fun whizzing past and flipping over other sleds, but then picked the wrong lad, as his brother, a huge, ginger-haired youth, boxed my ears. I often took things a little too far. When the big thaw came, the River Trent poured over its banks, flooding most of the low-lying area of The Meadows. Turgid river water came up through the sewers, flooding Grandma’s house at Queen’s Grove without warning. The first Roy knew of it was waking to hear the kitchen table banging on the kitchen ceiling underneath his bed as it bobbed up and down. Gran started downstairs and on the first step put her foot into the cold water. Dad reached the back of the house in a rowing boat to retrieve the more valuable items of furniture but most of it was ruined. Roy came to stay with us at Wollaton and after a few days the water subsided. Everyone got stuck into shovelling and bucketing out the mud. There was no insurance; the only help came from family, friends and neighbours. To keep me out of trouble, Mum persuaded Dad to take me with him to watch Notts County at Meadow Lane when he was on match duty. I settled into the crowd of men in their cloth caps and long gabardine macs. Tommy Lawton was playing for County, and every time he did something exciting the men beside me would leap off the benches. I soon lost interest and reached into my old gas mask case for the sandwiches that Mum had packed only to find that the top had come off the orange juice bottle and everything was soggy. The whole experience was miserable; I never watched league football from the terraces again. I fared better at Nottingham Ice Rink. Dad was on duty again and had inveigled a ticket for me on the front row to watch the Harlem Globetrotters give a demonstration of basketball. To my amazement and embarrassment, the star of the show, known as ‘Goose’, loped across and pulled me on to the court to demonstrate the set shot at the basket. I remember his huge, long fingers. He told me to put my little ones down each side of the ball, bring it down between my legs and throw it up towards the basket. I watched the ball’s trajectory as it flew through the hoop, earning me huge applause. That summer I turned seven, but before transferring from Harrow Road school to Robert Shaw Primary, our year was lined up en masse for a half-mile 15
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running race. This was the first time the staff had us competing against each other. The emphasis in school so far had always been self-improvement; the better pupils were simply examples to be emulated. I was way out in front, galloping along, when Mick Palmer, a much smaller boy, came racing past like a little steam engine. How could a smaller boy beat me? Mick’s speed and determination impressed me such that I always respected him and never underestimated other competitors thereafter. Mick and I were way out in front of the rest of the children and we were both lionised so, even though second, I was suddenly a bit of a star – there was no longer the need for me to seek attention by doing crazy things. I once ran through the open-air lavatory area and slipped on some wet concrete, bashing my head on a washbasin. Since I saw stars I made quite a meal of it, pretending to be unconscious until a group gathered, including my teachers. They pulled me back on my feet with instructions not to waste their time – again – so no ambulance then! Our parents often bicycled the three miles to Trent Lock and Beeston where Mum’s Aunt Edie lived in a big townhouse. To ease her parents’ financial burden, Mum had spent most of her formative years being brought up by her Aunt Edie and her husband Walter. My little brother Brian sat on Mum’s bike and up until that summer I travelled on Dad’s crossbar. Now I was seven, I had my own small bicycle. Aunt Edie lived with Great-Grandma Sanson who was well into her nineties. There was a huge Victoria plum tree in the garden with fruit so big and juicy my mouth waters at the memory. Great-Grandma had been born in the 1850s and dressed in the Edwardian style with lace-up boots, long black sateen skirts, a pinafore and a white, crimped collar. It occurred to me later that she must have known someone born in the middle of the eighteenth century, since her own great-grandmother had lived to a great age; the past is always close behind. She was a wonderful pastry cook, always dishing out slices of apple pie and she usually sent us home with half a crown. In the kitchen, behind a heavy curtain hanging from a wooden pole, was the door to the cellar. Plucking up courage while everyone was talking, I went down the cellar steps with the help of a little light filtering through the wroughtiron coal grating. I felt like an explorer, pushing into the unknown, opening chests and cases to see what I could find. Then the cellar door opened and Great-Grandma called down the steps: ‘Joe Lob lives down there, Douglas!’ and then she slammed the door shut. I was back up those stone steps as fast as my little seven-year-old legs would carry me.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbey, Edward, Desert Solitaire: A season in the wilderness (New York, 1968). Abbot, A.E., The Number Seven (London, 1962). Adams, Douglas, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (London, 1979). Afford, A.B., The Story of White Hall Open Country Pursuits Centre (Buxton, 1978). Ament, Pat, Royal Robbins: Spirit of the Age (Lincoln, 1992). Amos, Dr Denise, ‘World War Two in Nottinghamshire’ on The Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway [website] <http://www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk/events/ww2.htm> Angell, Shirley, The Pinnacle Club: A History of Women Climbing (Glasgow, 1988), 179. Anon., ‘California: Postscript to People’s Park’, Time, Vol. 95, No.7 (16 Feb. 1970). — Nottingham Journal (August 1942). — Outside (April 1978).
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eds., A Guide for Outdoor Educators in Scotland (Penrith, 1997), 26–29.
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INDEX A Abalakov, Vitaly 332, 343 Abbey, Edward 202 Abbot, A.E. 1, 19, 215 Abkhazia 222 Achik-Tash valley 333, 344 Adams, Mike 204 Adelsfjell 250 Aden 194 Advanced Rockcraft (book) 315 Afghanistan 172, 174–187, 257 Ago di Sciora 100 Aiguille de Blatière, west face 63, 140, 141 Aiguille de l’M 79 Aiguille du Chardonnet 103 Aiguille du Dru 77, 237 Aiguille du Fou 110 Aiguille du Grépon 110 Aiguille du Midi 74, 140, 352 Aiguille du Moine 102, 103 Aiguille du Peigne 75, 112, 139, 140 Aiguille du Plan 110, 189–190 Aiguille Mummery 103 Aiguille Ravanel 103 Aiguilles de Sisse 147, 152–153 – Swedish expedition 163 Aiguille Verte 351 Ainslie Park School, Edinburgh 226 Akester, Roger 128, 150, 153 Alakadoree 176, 181, 182 Alaknanda river 327 Albert Ball Prize 3 Albert Hall 32 Albert Hall, Nottingham 191 Albert Premier hut 103 Albert, Stu 240 Alcock, Dave 196 Alexander the Great 149, 176 Algeciras 91, 115 Alice in Wonderland (book) 135 Allenby, Edmund 129 Allen, Nat 96, 97, 143, 218 All India Radio 289 All Saints’ Church 37 Almscliff 144, 224 Alpine Climbing Group 63, 192, 219, 255, 294 Alpine Club 192, 220, 255, 306 Alpine Journal (book) 192, 221, 253 Alps 72–76, 95, 98, 102–104, 109–110, 122, 140–142, 168, 172, 175, 184, 189–192, 196, 200, 200–204, 218, 227, 233, 255, 292, 304, 351–352 Al Qatrun 150, 151 Ama Dablam 366, 382 Amatt, John 250, 350 Ament, Pat 234 American Alpine Club 317, 352 American Direct, Petit Dru 233 Amhuinnsuidhe Castle 205 Amritsar massacre 50 Anathema, Cookie Cliff 354 Åndalsnes 250 Anderl, Michael 293 Andersen, Hans Christian 15
Anderson, Jack 317 Anderson shelter 4, 37 Anderson, Sheridan 225, 231 Andes 96, 137, 241 Angell, Shirley 103 Anglada, Josep 258 Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 51 Angris, Bert 278 Animal Farm (book) 35 Anjuman Pass 182, 186 Ankara 171 Annapurna 137, 222, 223, 294, 303, 304, 308, 322, 357 Anster, John 388 Anthoine, Mo 197 Anti-Atlas 118, 122 Anya (Bavarian model) 342, 345 Aonach Beag 59 Aonach Mòr 59 Archer, Mr 128 Arches National Park 300 Arctic Institute 258 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 194 Arkwright’s Mill 41, 133 Arles 89 Army Physical Training Corps 5, 13 Arthur Terrace 26 Art of Coarse Rugby, The (book) 61 Arvons, footwear 69 Ascent (magazine) xiii, 221 Ascherson, C.S. 219, 221 Askole 359 Askouan 122 Asni 116, 120 Aspley Lane 41 Astor, Lord William 129 As You Like It (play) ix, xvi, xix, 85, 215 Atkins, Rob 56 Atlas Mountains 91, 104, 111, 112, 115–123, 125, 147, 155 Atlas of Men (book) 87 Atwood, Steph 354 Auf Wiederseh’n, Sweetheart (song) 32 Aunt Edie 16 Austin K9 lorries 174 Austria 110, 112 Avon Gorge 232 Axt, Wolfgang 284, 333 B Bachar, John 225, 315 Back Tor, Peak District 132 Badakhshan 176, 186 Badrinath 325, 327–329 Baffin Island 233, 256–258, 260–274, 277, 279, 294, 297–300, 312, 319–320, 331 Bagini Pass 320 Bagini Peak 322 Bahuguna, Harsh 283, 323 Bahuguna, Jai 283 Baird, Jill 258, 277 Baird, Pat 257–258, 266, 267, 271, 277 Bakewell 52, 68 Balcony Buttress, Castle Rock 249 Baldur Glacier 267
Ballin, Neville 130 Balloon Woods, Nottingham 26 Band, George 218 Bangalore 233 Banks, Mike 102 Bannister, Roger 54 Barbary sheep 157 Barclay, Bruce 338 Bardai 153, 161, 162 Barford, J.E.Q 61 Barlinnie prison 328 barn rugby, ‘murder ball’ 71, 103 Barre des Écrins 89 Barts, University of London 75 Bash Street Kids 127 Basic Rockcraft (book) 315 Basle 72, 73, 100 Baslow 42, 68, 132 Baslow Bridge 144 Bates, George 33 Bathgate, Dave 298, 303, 306, 319 Bathgate, Maggie 308 Battle of Britain 4 Bauer, Gerhard 204 Bauer-Rudolph route, Cima Ovest 210 Baxter-Jones, Roger 388 Bay of Biscay 91 Beard, Eric ‘Beardie’ 218–219 Beatles, The 138, 194, 201 Beattie, Ben 226–227 Beaves, PC Jerry 3 Bechap Sharan Kuh 184 Bednar, Peter 287 Bedouin 126, 151, 153 Beeching, Richard 138 Beech, Ken 86 Bee, John 56, 57 Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson (book) xiii Beeston 16, 95 Beetham, Bentley 117, 118, 192–193 Bell, Dick 168, 170–171 Bell, J.H. 61 Bemrose 95 Ben Macdui 219 Ben Nevis 59, 97 Ben Wyvis 74 Bérarde, La 89 Bergen 250 Berkeley, California 232, 240 Berkeley Tribe (newspaper) 242 Bernese Alps 73 Bernina 200 Berquet, Michel 345 Berry, Celia 86 Berry, Mike 86 Bettembourg, Georges 388 Betws-y-coed 195 Beveridge Report 19 Beyond the Fringe (stage show) 54 Bhagirathi 327 BHOS, Tenaya Canyon 238 348, 358 Biafo Glacier Bidean nam Bian 97 Big Overhang, The, Gogarth 197–199, 210 Bilborough 11, 22, 26
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INDEX
Biolay campsite 77, 78, 80, 102, 110, 140, 189, 201, 233, 257 Birchen Edge 42, 61, 94 Bird, Isabella 149 Birmingham College of Art 196 Biven, Peter 92 Black Boy Hotel, The 24 Blackpool FC 33 Black Rocks 41, 61, 65, 94, 148, 164 Blackshaw, Alan 63 Blakeney, Tom 192 Blake, Steve 319 Blower, ‘Torpedo’ Tom 30 Blue Band margarine 223 Blüemlisalphorn 73 Blum, Arlene 345–346, 353–354 Blyton, Enid 35 Boardman, Peter 380 Bobek, Hans 168 Boeuf Couloir 75 Bojan (muleteer) 181 Bolger, Terry 132, 197, 250 Bolton Wanderers FC 33 Bonafide, Cassius 304 Bonatti Pillar, Aiguille du Petit Dru 202–204, 205, 256 Bonatti, Walter xiii, 109, 202, 256 Bonington, Chris 103, 138, 143, 223, 286, 294–295, 301, 303, 304–306, 320, 321, 322, 323, 349, 350, 351, 363, 365, 370, 372, 373, 375, 380, 387 Bonington, Conrad 365 Boon, Dan (Fullalove, James) 143 Boot Flake, The Nose 314 Boothwright, Mr 8 Boothwright, Mrs 88, 166 Boris (friend of Brian) 90 Boris (Pamirs) 342, 343 Bosanquet, Reginald 322 Bosses ridge, Les 79 Boulder, Colorado 236, 353 Boulder, The, Clogwyn Du’r Arddu 98 Bourdillon, Tom 281, 366 Bowes, Steve 111, 112, 113, 118, 120, 122, 123, 126, 130, 146, 153, 161, 165 Bowline Club 95 Boysen, Martin 89, 196, 226, 322, 325, 351, 380 Bradford Lads 95 Bradley, John 32 Braille Book, Cathedral Spire 238 Brailsford, John 236 Braithwaite, Paul ‘Tut’ 294, 297, 298, 319, 331, 337, 340, 342, 343, 346, 350, 351, 364, 365, 366 Bramcote Hills 24 Brandler-Hasse, Cima Grande 124, 211 Brasher, Chris 309 Brave New World (book) 35 Bray, Reynold 258 Bregaglia 100, 114, 200 Breidablik 268, 271, 272 Breitenberger, Leo 288, 291 Brenner Pass 256 Brest 331 Bridges, E. Lucas xv Bridwell, Jim 315, 354, 356 Bringing It All Back Home (album) 274 British Canadian Arctic expedition 258 British Empire 49, 51, 52, 61, 111, 129, 194, 358 British Karakoram Expedition 1975 358–360
British Mountaineering Council 61, 228, 229, 331 British Schools Exploring Society 42 Broad Peak 333 Brook, Helen (Jan’s mother) 132–135 Brook, Tom (Jan’s father) 132–135 Brother of St John of Jerusalem 76 Broughton Island 260 Brower, David 217 Brown, Don 249 Brown, Joe 43, 63, 64, 71, 89, 140, 143, 196, 218, 222, 223, 236 Brundage, Avery 202 Brunts Grammar School 56 BSA 650cc Super Rocket 140 Buchanan-Smith, Alick 323 Buchan, John 35 Buchman, Frank 82 Buckingham Palace 88, 387 Buhl, Hermann 285, 333 Bukta tent 72, 77 Bunbeg 172 Bunny Hill 92 Burgess, Derek 77 Burke, Beth 300, 308 Burke, Mick 257, 272, 294, 301, 303, 304, 357, 363, 364, 365, 366–368, 370, 372, 373, 375 – death 380 – ITN Sports Cameraman of the Year 350 Burnet, Alastair 322 Burton, Annette 14 Burton, Hugh 312, 349, 350 Burton-on-Trent 95 Butlin’s Holiday Camp 32 Byne, Eric 63 C Cádiz 91 Cafer Kule 170 Cairn Gorm 219 Cairngorms 226–229, 256 Cairngorm Tragedy 1971 226–229 Caithness 257 Calais 73, 91, 135, 150, 162 Camargue 89 Camp 4, Yosemite 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 257, 354 Campbell-Kelly, Ben 250 Campbell, Robin 221 Capone, Al 7 Car Colston 36, 76, 92 Carey, Captain John 90, 91 Carey, John 199 Carey, Katherine 91 Caribou Glacier 272 Carlisle 132, 134, 172 Carlos, John 202 Carneddau 44 carnets de passages 142 Càrn Mòr Dearg 59 Carreg Alltrem 223 Carreg Wastad 197 Carroll, Lewis 135 Carson, Bruce 312, 353–354 Carson, Rachel 202 Casas de las Hortichuelas 115 Cassin, Riccardo 100 Cassin route, Cima Ovest 213 Cassin route, Piz Badile 100 Castle Naze 43 Castle Rock, Nottingham 4, 249–251
Cataclysm, Wildcat 130 Catastrophe Grooves, Wildcat 130 Cathedral Spire 238 Caucasus 222 Cemetery Gates, Dinas Cromlech 109, 197 Cenotaph Corner, Dinas Cromlech 64, 89, 109, 132, 197 Centennial (book) 354 Central Buttress, Black Rocks 42 Cerro de los Machos 114 Ceuta 91, 115 Chad 126, 142, 147, 152, 262 Chairman Mao 194, 202 Chakrarahu 137 Chalet Austria 89, 102, 322 Chamonix 73, 74, 77, 78, 79, 89, 102, 110, 111, 112, 140, 189, 201, 204, 233, 257, 351, 352 Changabang 318, 328, 349, 351 – first ascent, 1974 320–327 Changabang Glacier 325, 326 Changi prison 194 Channel Islands 90, 91 Chapman, Mark 356 char dham 327 Charlbury Road 3, 8, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 34, 138, 165 Chase, Brian 110 Chatsworth Edge 61 Chatterley trial, 1960 54 Cheddar Gorge 223 Cheney, Mike 365 Chesterman, Arthur 366, 368 Cheverst, Bill 124, 135–137, 136, 186, 189–190, 196 Chewang, Tashi 322, 324, 325 Chicago Stump (tree) 240 Chilwell house 166 Cholatse 366 chota char dham 328 Chotare, Sherpa 282 Chouinard-Herbert route, Sentinel Rock 353 Chouinard, Yvon 234, 236, 238, 241, 312, 356, 357 Chuo University Alpine Club 176 Churchill, Winston 5, 36 CIA 316–317 168–171 Cilo Dagı Cima Grande 124, 135, 159, 210, 218 Cima Ovest 137, 204, 210–213 – rescue 137 Cima Piccola 135 Cima Piccolissima 135 Clark, Dave 379 Clarke, Charlie 370, 373, 380 Cleare, John 223 Clifton 144 Clifton Bridge 92 Climber and Rambler (magazine) 228, 352 Climbers’ Club 219, 223 Climbing in Britain (book) 61 Climbs on Derwent Valley Limestone (book) 144 Clive, Robert 50 Clochemerle (book) 35 Clogwyn Du’r Arddu 98, 197, 222, 225 Clogwyn y Ddysgl 197 Clogwyn y Grochan 197 Clough, Ian 138, 205, 294, 308 Club Alpin Français (CAF) 118 Cluro, Harry 97, 197 Cocksucker’s Concerto, Ranger Rock 236
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UP AND ABOUT
Coke (Tibbu tribesman) 154, 156, 157 Col de Balme 103 Col de l’Amguird 118 Col de la Selle 89 Col du Dome 80 Cold War 53, 262 Collin’s Almshouses 24 Columbia University 87 Columbus, Christopher 149 Comfort, Alex 64 Comici route, Cima Grande 124, 135 Commonwealth 49, 81 Conquistadors of the Useless (book) 62 Consciousness III 269 Continuum Concept, The (book) xix, 19, 47 Cook, Captain James 50, 149 Cool, Mr 242 Corner, The, Clogwyn Du’r Arddu 98, 197 Coronation Street, Cheddar Gorge 222 Corriemulzie 184 Corrour bothy 228 Corwen Magistrates’ Court 195 Cottesmore Girls School 36 Cottesmore relay team 55 Cottesmore School 30, 57, 67, 104, 126, 127, 129, 130, 168 Couturier Couloir, Aiguille Verte 351 Couvercle hut 102, 103 Covington, Michael 315–316, 353 Cracknell, Dave 298 Craig, Bob 346 Crater Lake 266 Crewcut, Gogarth 196 Crew, Peter 196, 223, 226 Cromford 41, 143 Crooks, Mr 29 Cropper, Georgie 37 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young 274 Crowbar, Gogarth 196 Crown Hotel 28 Cubs 37, 38, 39 Cuillin Ridge 218 Cumberland Peninsula 257, 258, 319 Cumberland Sound 262 Cunningham, Johnny 285 Curbar Edge 61 Curran bothy 226 Curzon, Lord George 50 Cyrn Las 197 D Daily Mail (newspaper) 91, 209, 385, 386 Dalai Lama 50, 51, 77 Dallas 138 Dangler, The, Stanage Edge 237 Dante’s Inferno 332 Daraut Kurgan 333 Dare, Dan 28 Darjeeling 324 Darley Dale 86 Darnell, Judy 104, 132 Darrah-i-Sharan 182, 183 Darwin, Charles 149 Dauphiné 80 Dauphiné, Le (newspaper) 190 Davidson, Cathy 226, 226–227 Davidson, Dai xi Davidson, Maurice 49, 51, 53 Davies, Clive 94, 96, 97, 98, 108, 111, 112, 113, 118, 120, 121, 126, 130, 138, 142, 146, 152, 154, 156, 157, 159, 161, 298, 319, 346
Davies, Skip 138, 166, 193 Davis, Scott 238, 240 Dawa, Ang 302 Dawn Wall, El Capitan 312, 315 Day of the Triffids, The (book) 35 D-Day 14 Deepest Down Deepest Down, Highest Up! lecture 191–193 Delhi 328 Demeulemeester, Michel 159 Denali 353, 388 Denbighshire 195 Denman Street 3 Denman Street Lads’ Club 3 Denney, Paul 199 Denny, Glen 315 Dent du Géant 77, 109 Dent du Requin 77, 78 Derby 76, 95 Derby Road flat 128, 138 Derbyshire 41, 61, 109, 111, 127, 143, 144, 175, 182, 194, 199, 210, 237, 278, 310 Derwent, river 133 Derwent Valley limestone 97–98, 111, 130–132, 143 Desert Solitaire (book) 202 Devil’s Thumb, Greenland 258 Devil’s Tower, Wyoming 300 Diamond, The, Longs Peak 316, 353, 354 Dick Barton, Special Agent (radio show) 9, 22, 53 Dickens, Mr 127 Dickinson, Leo xi, 211, 223, 231 Diemberger, Kurt 333 Dihedral Wall, El Capitan 311 Dinas Cromlech 98, 107, 197 Dinas Mot 197 Dinosaur, Gogarth 196 Direct Route, Dinas Mot 197 Disley, John 44 Dixon, Mr 33 Diz Valley 168 Dog and Partridge, near Ashbourne 144 Dolo 80 Dolomites 95, 98, 111, 135–137, 140, 142, 145, 204, 210–213, 217, 218, 241, 247, 250 Dolphin, Arthur 64, 95 Dôme de Neige, Écrins 89 Dôme du Goûter 79 Don Camillo 35 Donegal 63, 172, 174 Dorji Lama 302 Dorzhiev, Agvan Lobsan 50 Dovedale Dash fell race 96, 218 Dow Crag 97 Downes, Bob 63 Drasdo, Harold 43, 62, 63, 64, 149, 221 Dresch, Jean 118 Droites, Les 255 Drunken Sailor, The (song) 29 201 Dubcek, Alexander Dublin 172 Duff, Jim 365 Duke of Edinburgh Award 76, 88 DuMais, Dick 231, 277 Dumfries 134 Dunn, Victor 33 Durbar Square 308 Durham University Climbing Club 193 Dusso 358 Duval, Clause 55, 56
Dwarka Dyer, General Reginald Dyhrenfurth, Günther Dyhrenfurth, Norman Dylan, Bob
327 50 324 283, 284, 324 143, 249, 274
E Eagle (comic) 28 Éamon de Valera 174 Earp, Frank 4, 10, 26 Earp’s farmhouse (Halfway House) 10, 18, 26 East Ham Town Hall 82 Ecopolitical Ring of Co-operation 255 Écrins 89, 90 Edale 52, 132 Eden, Anthony 53 Edinburgh Education Authority 227 Education Act 1943 43 Edward III (King) 250 Edwards Air Force Base 357 Edwards, Menlove 63 Edwards, Rhys 228 Eel River 240 Eiffel Tower 222 Eiger 76, 137, 138, 191, 294, 308, 322 – Eiger Direct 1966 225, 234, 322 Eighth Army 152 Eisenschmidt, Eva 342, 345 El Capitan 224, 230, 232, 233, 238, 241, 313 El Cap Spire 246 El Cap Tower 311 Eldorado Canyon 236, 353 Eliot, George 35 El Portal 354 Elterwater Youth Hostel 194 Embick, Andy 241 Emerald Crack, Chatsworth Edge 237 Enniskillen 172 En Solitaire 319–320 Envers du Plan 78 Epping Forest 59 Erskine, Angus 258 Eskdale Outward Bound 69–71 Eskimos 248, 260, 262–264, 266, 319 Estcourt, Nick 294, 301, 303, 306, 363, 366, 372, 373 Estes Park 315, 353 Ethiopia 147 Eton 70 Evans, Charles 220, 281, 351, 366 Evans, John 284 Évenements, Les 201 Évêque, L’ 103 Everest xv, 42, 88, 126, 216, 257, 258, 280–293, 296, 321, 388 – bivouac near summit, 1975 379–380 – Camp 1, 1975 366–370 – Camp 2, 1975 370–372, 380 – Camp 3, 1975 372–373 – Camp 6, 1975 374–375, 377, 380 – Camps 4 and 5, 1975 373 – first ascent 1953 32, 222, 281, 366 – Hamish leave expedition, 1975 373–375 – international expedition 1971 283–284 – Japanese expedition 1973 309 – Japanese expeditions 281–283 – rock band, 27,500 feet 304, 377 – route finding 1975 372 – south-west face, 1975 349–351, 363–383 – south-west face, autumn 1972 294–295, 300–309
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INDEX
– south-west face, spring 1972 284–293, 302, 322 – upper south-west face topo 378 – west ridge 1963 281, 282 Everett, Mr 34 Excelsior 250cc Talisman Twin 92 Exit Chimneys, Troll Wall 253
F FA Cup Final 1953 33 Fanck, Arnold 200, 201 Farsi 182 Fat Man’s Chimney, Black Rocks 42 Fayzabad 175, 176 Fell and Rock Journal 352 Ferguson, Duncan 316 Ferro da Stiro, Pizzi Gemelli 100 Fezzan 165 Fielding, Henry 35 Fiery Jack, liniment 58 Fissure Brown 140, 141 Fitschen, Joe 234 Fiva Farm 253 Five Months in the Himalaya (book) 320 Flake Crack, Troll Wall 253 Flaky Wall, High Tor 98, 132 Flammes des Pierres 204 Fleming, John 186, 186–187, 267 Fletcher, Mr 36 Flinders Island 50 Flitterman’s, Sneinton 42 Folkestone 140 Foops Shawangunks 278 Forbes Arête, Aiguille du Chardonnet 103 Forester, C.S. 35 Fork Beard Glacier 266 fortune-teller’s prophecy 1 Fothergill, Watson 24 4 Way Street (album) 274 Fox, Percy 36 Franklin, Sir John 149 Freddy (Tibbu tribesman) 154 Free France 152 French Equatorial Africa 152 French Foreign Legion 126 Frendo Spur, Aiguille du Midi 140 Frêney Pillar 103, 138 Fresno 356 Freya Peak, Baffin 265, 270, 271–272 Friar’s Balsam 11 Friends of the Earth 218 Frison-Roche, Roger 148 Frobisher Bay 257, 260, 263, 297, 320 Froggatt, Ben 61 Froggatt Edge 61 Frost, Tom 234, 236, 246, 316, 317, 324, 357 Fulton, Ian 342 Fundraising lectures 137–138 Furggen Direct, Matterhorn 101 Fyffe, Allen 368, 370, 372 G Gaddafi, Colonel Muammar Gagra, Soviet Union Gallagher, Hughie Gallagher, Mr ‘Jock’ Gallwas, Jerry Gambit Climb, Clogwyn y Ddysgl Games Climbers Play (essay) Ganges river Gangotri
163 222 172 33 234 197 221 316 327
Gangue Grooves, Willersley Castle Rocks 143 Garden of Eden, The, Kathmandu 301 Gardom’s Edge 42, 61 Garfunkel, Art 315 Garhwal Himalaya 281, 320, 326 Garside, Liz 172 Garside, Mick 43–44, 52, 56, 59, 62, 82, 94, 97, 108, 126, 138, 140, 142, 146, 152, 154, 157, 161, 172, 174 Garve Station 73 Gaulle, Charles de 201, 204 Gaza 194 Géant Icefall 74 Gemmi Pass 73 Geneva 162, 191 Geneva Spur 370 Gentil, Peter & Maureen 236 Geographical Pivot of History, The (paper) 51 Gerhardt, Clark 317 Germain, Bernard 345 Gerty, Ann 300 Geste, Beau 126 Gibbins, James 209, 210 Gibraltar 90–91, 112, 113, 122 Gilgamesh 149 Gillies, Ray 73, 97, 98, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 118, 120, 126, 130, 131, 138, 143, 144, 146, 150, 152, 157, 159, 160, 161, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177–180, 181, 182, 187, 193, 196, 197, 231, 232, 257, 258, 267, 298 Gill, John 225 Gilman, Peter 210 Giobellina, Ariane 360 Gippenreiter, Eugene 333–334 Girdle, The, Dinas Cromlech 98 Glen Canyon 202 Glen Coe 97, 205 Glen Etive 97 Glen Feshie 226 Glenmore Lodge 227, 229 59 Glen Nevis Glen Ulladale 205, 279 Glidden, Jock 342, 343 Glorious Glosters 61 Glyder Fach 44 Glyder Fawr 44 Gmoser, Hans 349–351 Gobi Desert 50 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 388 Gogarth 195–200, 197–199, 222, 223 Golan Heights 194 Golden Fleece pub 93 Goldsmith Street, Nottingham 93 Goodwin, Colonel Eric ‘Buster’ 358 Goon Show, The (radio show) 53 Gorak Shep 283, 364 Gordale Scar 143 Gordon, Adrian 364, 365 Gordon, General Charles 50 Gosling, Ray 26, 58 Gouffre Berger cave 191 Goûter hut 79 Graham, Mick 34, 35, 49, 57 Granada 112 Grand Capucin 109 Grandes Jorasses 77 Grands Mulets hut 80 Grandstand (TV show) 222 Grassington 143 Grau-du-Roi, Le 90
Gray, Dennis 95–96, 107, 108, 138, 143, 218, 221, 224, 229, 331 Great Cracks, Troll Wall 253 Great Depression 7 Great Pacific Iron Works 236, 356 Great Smog, 1952 39 Great Wall, Clogwyn Du’r Arddu 225 Great War, the 2, 10 Great Western, Almscliff 144 Great Zab river 168 Greenbank, Tony 223, 236, 237, 249 Greenfield, George 286, 387 Greening of America, The (book) 269 Green, Michael 61 Greenwood, Brian 224, 350 Gregory, Grandad 2, 15 Gregory, Grandma 1–2, 166 Gregory, Keith 2 Gregory, Roy 2, 15 Grey Corries 59 Grieve, John 205 Griffiths, Mrs 20 Grindsbrook Clough 52 Grosser Gott (hymn) 75 Grot, Gordale Scar 143 Grove Tavern 2 Guareschi, Giovannino 35 Güéjar Sierra 112, 115 Guevara, Che 194 Gugliermina 63 Guillamón, Francisco 258 Gujarat 327 Gurdjieff, George xiv Gurkhas 302 Gyatso, Sonam 317 H Habeler, Peter 241, 243, 244–247 Hadlum, Ann 300, 352 Hadlum, Dez 34, 56, 57, 62, 76, 78, 79, 80, 94, 96, 98–102, 107, 108, 125, 143, 197, 200, 300, 352 Hahn, Kurt 42, 69 Haim, Werner 288 Hakkâri Province 169, 171 Half Dome 233, 234, 310, 312, 315 Hall, Brian 227 Hancock’s Half Hour (TV show) 88 Handley, Tommy 8 Hankinson, Alan 322 Happer, Gordon 51, 57, 104, 109, 111, 127, 168 Harding, Warren 234, 235, 240, 241, 242, 312 Hargreaves, A.B. 61 Haridwar 328 Harlin, John 234 Harper, Fred 227, 229 Harrer, Heinrich 76, 77 Harrison, George 241 Harris, Reg 58 Harrow Road primary school 14 Harvey Hadden Stadium 58 Harwood, A.C. 47 Haston, Annie 360 Haston, Dougal 223, 284, 286, 294–295, 301, 303, 304, 306, 308, 322–323, 325, 326, 328, 350, 351, 363, 366, 368, 373–380 – funeral 387–388 Haw-Haw, Lord (Joyce, William) 8
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UP AND ABOUT
Hayden, Wesley 40, 59, 67, 68, 71, 72, 76, 78, 80, 81, 86, 89, 94 Hayes, Geoff 86, 95 Hazrat-i-Sayet 176, 182 Healey, Denis 194 Heartland Theory 51 Heart Ledge, Salathé Wall 246 Heart Route, El Capitan 238 Heath, Mike 317 Heen, Arne Randers 253 Helsby Crag 4 Helvellyn 70 Hemingway, Ernest 35 Hemlock Stone 4, 24, 25, 148 Hemming, Gary 233 Hendrix, Jimi 356 Hennek, Dennis 223, 238, 239, 241, 243, 244, 257, 263, 267, 271, 272, 277, 279–280, 294, 297, 298, 299, 300, 312, 353, 357 Hepplewhite, Bill 202 Hepplewhite, Martin 202 Herbert, TM 238, 242, 244 Herbert, Wally 149 Hereward the Wake 206 Herrligkoffer, Dr Karl Maria 285, 286, 287, 288, 291, 292, 293, 304, 352 Herzog, Maurice 222 Hesse, Hermann 269, 273 Hetchel, Sibylle 310 Hewing, Rod 96 Hewlett, Mark 89 Heyerdahl, Thor 149 Hidden Persuaders, The (book) 202 Hiebeler route, Pik Lenin 342 Hiebeler, Toni 255, 284, 335 Higgins, Molly 335, 352–356, 357–358 Higgins, Tom xiii High Exposure, Shawangunks 278 Highfield, Neil 128 High Pavement Grammar School 30 High Peak (book) 63 High Tor 41, 92, 97, 130, 132, 135, 143 Hillary, Edmund 32, 281, 285, 350, 366, 378 Hillary School, Kunde 387 Hillary Step 377, 378, 379 Himalaya xvi, 96, 137, 172, 218, 257, 312, 316 Himalayan Mountaineering Institute 324 Hindu Kush 172, 174–187, 190, 192, 193, 200, 253, 262, 381 Hirabayashi, Katsutoshi 282 hitchhiking 73–74, 77, 104, 201, 356–357 Hitler, Adolf 5, 7, 19 HMS Beagle 149 Hobbit, The (book) 269 Hobe, Alice von 287, 293 Hoggar 153 Høibakk, Ralph 253 Hoibakk’s Chimney, Søndre Trolltind 250 Holmes, Bob 187, 250, 251, 385, 386 Holmes, (neé Madgett), Gina 249, 385 Holt, Lawrence 42, 69 Homer, George 241, 243 Hong Kong 169 Hope Croft (house) 73 Horatius at the bridge 35 Hornbein, Tom 281, 282 Horne, Kenneth 8 Hörnli Ridge, Matterhorn 135 Hoshab Castle, Turkey 167 Hoskin, Cyril (Lobsang Rampa) 77
Hotel Shanker, Kathmandu 301 Hotel Sputnik, Moscow 332 Hotspur (comic) 28 Housing Act 1949 24 Howard the Coal 199 Howard, Tony 125, 250, 253 Huber, Adi 288 Huber, Alex 124 Hudson Heights 277 Hudson, Henry 149 Hudson, John 52 Hudson’s Bay Company 262 Hunt, Frank 56 Hunt, John 88, 281, 304, 366 Hunt, Roger 56 Hunt, Sir John 32 Hunt, Steve 42 Hurly, Tom 294 Hüttl, Edelwald 287 Huxley, Aldous 35 I I Ching (book) xiv Idris of Libya (King) 163 Idyllwild 315 Igjugarjuk xiv Ilam Hall 218 I’m All Right Jack (film) 20 Imlil 116 Imposter (mountain, Tibesti) 159 Indian Mountaineering Foundation 320 Ingle, Baz 23, 196 Ingoldmells 32, 33 Innsbruck 82, 110, 135 Intelligence Medal of Merit 317 International Scout Centre, Kandersteg 72 International Society of Arboriculture 222 Inverness 73 Ireland 172–174 Irhzer n’Bou Imrhaz 118 Iron Curtain 72, 331 Isabella of France 250 Isle of Arran 63, 67 Isle of Harris 204, 205 Isle of Man 134 Isle of Skye 205 Itakura, Professor 176, 193–194 Ito, Reizo 284 It’s That Man Again! (radio show) 8 Ivy Sepulchre, Dinas Cromlech 197 I Want to Wake up in the Mountains (song) 346 J Jaborandi, Gogarth 196 Jagannath 327 Jannu 137 Japanese Alpine Club 282 Javelin Blade, Idwal 42 Jebel Marra 147 Jehovah’s Witnesses 140 Jericho Wall, Dinas Cromlech 135 Jill (girl friend) 37, 56 John Muir Trail 240 John o’Groats to Land’s End 218 John Player School 34, 57 John Player & Sons 10, 20, 32, 257 John Player Sports Ground 55 Johnson, Beverly 310–311 Johnson, Dr 68 Jones, Arvon 69 Jones, Brenda 12 Jones, Chris 238
Jones, George 96, 130, 186, 190 Jones, Philip 12 Jones, Tom 132 Joshimath 327 Journeys of a German in England (book) 67 Juke Box Jury (TV show) 54 Jukes, Mavis 239, 241 Julian Alps 80 Jung, Carl 85 Just So Stories (book) 37 K K2 204, 222, 388 Kabul 175, 182, 187, 358 Kafiristan 186 Kalanka 318, 326 Kandersteg 72 Kangchenjunga 64, 218, 220, 324, 351, 388 Kangshung face, Everest 377, 380 Kano, Takashi 283 Karakoram 97, 101, 181, 222, 233, 294, 312, 357, 358–360 Kasparek bivouac 213 Kathmandu 148, 286, 287, 301, 308, 360, 385 Kaujan 186, 186–187 Kaye and Ward (publisher) 241 Keaton, Buster 277 Kedarnath 328 Keeler Needle 353 Kelsey, Joe 231, 278 Kennedy, John F. 138 Kent, Kelvin 302 Keran 181 Kerouac, Jack 312 Keuper marl 21 Khrushchev, Nikita 53 Khumbu 302, 308, 350, 366, 387 Khyber Pass 358 Killabuk (hunter) 266 Kilnsey 143, 222 Kinder Downfall 132 Kinder Scout xii, 48, 52 King Arthur 35 King, Martin Luther 129, 201 King’s Brook 40 King’s Parade Glacier 274, 300 King Swing, The Nose 311 Kipling, Rudyard 37 Kirkstone Pass 134 Klagenfurt 80 Knauth, Beryl 241, 242, 244 Knights of the Round Table 35 Koch, Phil 242, 243, 257, 267, 271, 272, 274, 277 Koh-i-Bandaka 175, 176, 177–180, 183, 193, 286, 381 Koh-i-Morusq 185 Koh-i-Sisgeikh 183, 184 Kohli, Captain M.S. 316, 317 Kokcha river 176 Kokcha Valley 182, 186 Komito, Steve 315, 316, 353 Konishi, Masatsugu 282 Kon-Tiki expedition 149 Korizo Pass 152 Kor, Layton 316 Kostya (Pamirs) 342, 343 Kroger, Chuck 238 Krylenko face 335, 342, 346 – avalanche 335–338 Krylenko Pass 334, 335, 340
398
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INDEX
Kuen, Felix 288, 291, 292 Kullu 111 Kumar, Captain Kiran 323, 324 Kunde 364 Kunde Hospital 350 Kurdistan 168, 170, 172, 183, 193, 257 Kurds 170 Kurut 181 Kyrgyzstan 333 L Lac d’Ifni 120 Lady Mayoress, Nottingham 192 Lagganlia 226, 227 Lagoe, John 70 Laguna de la Caldera 114 Laguna del Caballo 114 Lagunillo del Veleta 114 Lahoussie (Atlas guide) 116 Lairig Ghru 219, 228 Lake District 69–71, 95, 97, 134, 194, 236, 278 Lake, Mr 20 Lake Superior 300 Lake Tahoe 240 Lake Van 168 Lambert, Raymond 281 Lamosangu 301, 302 Landau, Rom xv Langmuir, Eric 63, 227 Laski, Marghanita 53 Lata 327 Lauria, Don 238, 315 Lawrencefield 98 Lawrence of Arabia (film) 122, 129 Laws, Eric 249 Lawton, Tommy 15 Lean, David 122 Leaning Tower 241 Lecco 100 Leclerc, General Philippe 152 Lecomte, Jean 159 Ledeboer, Peter 229 Lee-Enfield 170 Lee, Guy 175, 177, 184, 186, 193, 205, 207, 223, 232, 253, 257, 267, 271, 272, 274, 277, 278, 279–280, 331, 340, 346 Lees, Johnny 102 Lenin Glacier 337 Lennon, John 201, 385 Lenton Abbey Scout Hut 138 Lenton Boulevard 109 Lenton Boulevard School 43 Lenton Secondary School 3 Leonardi, John 41 Leopold (King) 50 Lépiney, Jacques de 118 Leptis Magna 150 Leuk 73 Levick, George Murray 42 Lewis, Sam 57, 128, 174 Leysin 388 Lhasa 51 Lhotse 306, 370 Libya 149, 150, 165 Lido, Venice 75 Liedloff, Jean 19, 47 Ligrane 120 Limelight, High Tor 99 Lincoln Memorial 129 Lincolnshire Wolds 32 Lipkin route, Pamirs 334, 340, 342
Little Tryfan 44 Little Wing, Ribbon Falls 356 Littlewoods 26 Llanberis Pass 107, 195, 197, 205 Llandudno 44, 195 Loch Morlich 219 Lockwood, Neil 253 Loewenthal, Dr 5 Lone Tree Groove, Willersley Castle Rocks 143 Lone Tree Gully, Black Rocks 42 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 220 Long, John 225, 356 Longland, Jack 42, 229 Longs Peak, Colorado 353 Longstaff, Tom 258, 320 Look What They’ve Done To My Song (song) 274 Lord Mayor, Nottingham 192 Los Angeles 234, 240 Los Angeles Times (newspaper) 242 Lost Arrow Spire 241 Loughborough 91, 92 Loughborough College 43, 75, 80, 94 Lovatt, Jerry 102 Lover’s Leap café, Stoney Middleton 278 Lovins, Amory 218 Lowe, Jeff 337, 342, 343 Lowe, Jennifer 22, 32 Ludi, Heidi 342, 345 Lukla 287, 308 Lumpy Ridge 316 Lynn, Vera 32 Lyons Corner House 59 M M1, High Tor 98 Maag, Sepp 288 Maciejewski, Val 12 MacInnes, Hamish 97, 205, 223, 280, 285, 286, 287–292, 293, 294, 301, 303, 304, 306, 363, 364, 368, 373–375 Mackinder, Halford 51 Macklin Street 96 Mad (magazine) 135 Madwoman’s Stones 52 Magic Mushroom, El Capitan 312 Mahabharata (book) 328 Main Wall, Cyrn Las 197 Makalu 137 Malham Cove 143, 152 Mallory, George 53, 281 Mamas and the Papas 201 Mamores 59, 72 Manchester Gritstone Climbing Club 143 Mandakini 328 Mann, Neil 56 Manor Farm 92 Mansell, Gordon 43, 63, 64 Mansell, Maureen 64 Mapperley (asylum) 11 Mardalsfossen 255 Margins of Safety (essay) 149, 221 Maria Lake 183 Marmet, Jürg 258 Marrakesh 115, 116, 118 Marriott, Dave 258 Martello Tower 174 Martigny 162 Martin, Millicent 54 Martin’s Pond 24 Marts, John 337, 342 Masherbrum 294
Massacre of Chumik Shenko, 1904 50–51 Massoud, Ahmad Shah 186 Matchless motorbike 195 Matlock 93, 143 Matsuura, Teruo 282 Matterhorn 72, 73, 101, 103, 135, 222 Matthews, Elaine 277 Matthews, Stanley 33 Mauri, Carlo 283, 284 Maxfield, Andrew 43, 62 Maxim guns 51 Mazeaud, Pierre 283, 284, 345 Mazeno Peak, Pakistan xi McCarthy, Jim 278, 316 McGill University 258 McKeith, Alistair ‘Bugs’ 224 McLoughlin, Will 140 McNaught-Davis, Ian 222, 223, 225, 304 Meadow Lane 15 Meadows Boys’ Club 168 Meadows, David ‘Dan’ 96, 130, 146, 152, 153, 161, 298 Meadows, The, Nottingham 1, 15, 166 Meat Grinder, Cookie Cliff 356 Mechanics’ Institute library 68 Medenine barracks 150 Mediterranean 90, 113 Mehdi, Haji 359 Mekon, The 28 Melly, George 138 Mengele, Josef 87 Mer de Glace 74, 77, 110 Mescalito, El Capitan 312 Messner, Günther 257 Messner, Reinhold 209, 241, 255, 256, 257, 285, 286, 352 Mia Hvara river 169 Michael from Mountains (song) 316 Michener, James 354 Middleton Boulevard 28, 92 Middleton, Lord 14 Midterm, Arch Rock 354 Milestone Buttress 44 Milligan, Spike 54 Mills and Boon 35 Mills, Freddie 12 Minch, The 205 Mingma 364–365, 366 Ministry of Defence 193 Mir Samir 175, 182, 186, 199 Mitchell, Fergus 206 Mitchell, Joni 315 Mitchell, Lieutenant Colonel Colin 194 Modra 154, 156, 159 Moffatt, Gwen 102 Molyneux, Brian 211 Monastyrski, Michael 338, 344 Mondarruego 258 Monkey Wrench Gang, The (book) 202 Monkhouse, F.J. 72 Monsanto 269 Mont Blanc 63, 72, 74, 79, 80, 103, 140, 201 Mont Blanc du Tacul 109 Montenvers 74, 77, 89, 102, 190, 322 Moorhouse, Denny 205 Moral Re-Armament 82 Morgan, Jeff 211 Moriarty, ‘Big Eley’ 388 Morin, Yves 345 Moritz, Pastor 67 Morocco 89, 91, 111, 115, 115–123, 125, 129, 149, 182
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UP AND ABOUT
Morris Commercial MRA1 trucks 138, 142 Morrison shelter 7 Morte d’Arthur 72 Mortimer, Roger 250 Mortimer’s Hole 250 Mortlock, Annette 102 Mortlock, Colin 101, 192 Moscow 201 Mosedale, Peter 43 Moseley, Ken 256 Mother Ganga (see Ganges) 327 motorbikes 92–93 Moulam, Tony 221 Mountain Bothies Association 228 Mountain Craft (magazine) 125, 196, 223, 224, 225 Mountaineering Activities Company 236 Mountaineering Association 43, 79, 94, 102, 110, 128, 142, 196 Mountain Leadership Training Board 229 Mountain Life (magazine) 227, 228 Mountain (magazine) 204, 221, 223–229, 228, 231, 237, 255, 256, 292, 294, 304, 310, 315, 351 Mountain World (book) 256, 258, 272 Mount Asgard 260, 267, 271, 272–274 – East Pillar 1972 298 Mount Errigal, Ireland 174 Mount Everest Foundation 129, 142, 257 Mount Overlord, Baffin 319 Mount Thor, Baffin 266, 275 Mount Turnweather, Baffin 319 Mount Ulu, Baffin 266 Mount Whitney, California 240, 353 Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh (radio show) 8 Muir, John 94, 240 Muir Snag 240 Muir Wall, El Capitan 238 Mulhacén 114 Mullach nan Coirean 59 Mumm, Arnold 320 Munch, Edvard xi Munday, Don xv Mundella Grammar School 67, 93 Munjan River 176, 181, 183, 184 Munros 59 Murdoch, Richard 8 Murray, Charles, Earl of Dunmore 206 Murray, W.H. 321, 388 Murzuq Sand Sea 149, 150, 162, 193 Muztagh Pass 50 Muztagh Tower, Karakoram 222 MV Saint Ernest (ship) 90, 91 N Nachtigal, Gustav 153 Næss, Arne 253, 255 Nakajima, Hiroshi 282 Naked Edge, Eldorado Canyon 316 Namche Bazaar 351, 385 Nanda Devi 316–317, 321, 324, 326 Nanda Kot 281, 316 Nanga Parbat 257, 285 Nantillons Glacier 109 Narita, Kiyoshi 282 Narrow Slab, Troll Wall 253, 254 Nash, Graham 274 Nasser, Gamal Abdel 52 National Geographic (magazine) 312 National Health Service 12, 20, 95, 130 National Insurance 20 National Service 2, 61, 87
Neate, Jill 352 Nelson, Chris 312 Nelson, Horatio 50 Neltner hut 116 Neptune, Gary 317 Nestorians 168 Neuman, Alfred E. 135 New Age, The xiii Newbold, Peter 52, 58 Newby, Eric 175 New Paltz 277 Newsweek (magazine) 224 Newton, Ned 250 New York 231, 278 Nicol, Dave 202–204 Niligiri 137 Nixon, Richard 204, 274, 345 Noble, Lyn 89, 94, 100, 101, 109, 228 – Ago di Sciora accident 102 Nonne, La 103 Norgay, Tenzing 32, 281, 285, 366, 378 Normandy landings 8 Norse tales of Asgard 35 North Africa 111, 114, 118, 142, 156, 162 North America Wall, El Capitan 234, 238, 244 North, Dr Alan 338, 340, 342 Northern Territories 258 North Face Direct, Aiguille du Plan 189–190 North Lees campsite, Peak District 95 North Stack, Gogarth 197 North Wales 95, 175, 194, 218, 224, 241, 278, 294 North-West Passage 149 Norway 233, 250–255 Nose Direct, Strone Ulladale 223 Nose, The, El Capitan 234, 237, 238, 256, 311, 311–312, 314 Nose, The, Strone Ulladale 231, 232, 278, 279–280 No Tigers in the Hindu Kush (book) 184 Nottingham 43, 67–68, 73, 80, 92, 93, 109, 120, 137, 154, 175, 186, 191, 217, 249, 304, 309, 340, 353, 360 Nottingham Amateur Athletics Association 5, 54 Nottingham Attendance Centre for Juveniles 165 Nottingham Blitz, 8–9 May 1941 4 Nottingham Canal 22–23 Nottingham City Police Force 3 Nottingham Climbers’ Club 95–97, 104, 109, 128, 130, 132, 135, 138, 144, 168, 170, 174, 191, 195, 197, 200, 249, 256, 257, 258, 310, 319, 388 Nottingham Council 88 Nottingham Education Committee 58, 69 Nottingham Evening Post (newspaper) 32, 58 Nottingham General Hospital 88, 94 Nottingham Goose Fair 68, 166 Nottingham great floods, 1947 15 Nottingham Guardian (newspaper) 32 Nottingham High School 43 Nottingham Ice Rink 15 Nottingham Journal (newspaper) 5 Nottingham Midland railway station 1 Nottingham Moderns Rugby Football Club 56, 57, 128, 388 Nottingham Mountaineering Club 249 Nottingham Police Athletic Club 54 Nottingham Post (newspaper) 129, 249 Nottingham race riots, 1958 58, 82 Nottingham RFC 34 Nottinghamshire AAA Youth Championships 56 Nottingham slum clearance 166
Nottingham Teacher Training College 165 Nottingham University 194, 260 Nottingham 1st YMCA Rover Crew 72 Nottingham 1st YMCA Scout Group 39 Notts County FC 2, 15 Novello, Oreste 80 Noyce, Wilfrid 63, 101, 111, 116, 125, 294 Number Seven, The (book) 1, 19, 215 Nunn, Paul 205, 294, 297, 298, 331, 335, 338, 340, 352 Nuptse 304, 306, 380, 388 Nuristan 186 Nuristani, Hindu Kush 176 Nutcracker Suite, Ranger Rock 236 O Observer, The (newspaper) 287 O’Connor, Bas 97 Odysseus 35, 148 Oeschinensee 73 Oetztal Alps 110 Offshore Island, The (play) 53 Ogre, The 348, 358–360, 388 Ogwen Valley 44 Ohtsuka, Hiromi 282, 283 Old Faithful 300 Old Man and the Sea, The (book) 35 Old Man of Hoy 223 Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye 63, 205 Olivier, Laurence 24 Olson, James 242 Olympic Games 12, 56, 202 Om Mani Padme Hum 218 On the Beach (book) 53 On The Heights (book) 256 Open Book, Tahquitz 234 Opera House, Vienna 82 Operation Barbarossa 5 Orage, Alfred Richard xiii Ordesa National Park, Spain 258–260, 259 Oread Mountaineering Club 77, 86, 95, 111 Orr, James 328 Orston Drive, Nottingham 35 Orwell, George 35 Osh, Kyrgyzstan 333 Ottoman Empire 169 Ouanoukrim 118 Ouarzazate 122 Outer Hebrides 204, 210 Outer Limits, Cookie Cliff 354 Outer Space, Eldorado Canyon 316 Outward Bound 42, 62, 236 Owen, Mr 56, 57 P Pacific Ocean Wall, El Capitan 354 Packard, Vance 202 Padarn Lake Hotel 278, 306 Paisley, John 226 Pajuka Pass 182 Pakistan 96, 175, 358, 358–360 Palmer, Brian 170, 186, 197, 198 Palmer, Mick 16 Pamir Knot 175 Pamirs 206, 326, 331–347, 352, 380 – tragedy 1974 342–347 Pangnirtung, Baffin 248, 257, 260–264, 266, 274, 297, 300, 319 Pangnirtung Fjord 260, 266 Pangnirtung Lodge 320 Pangnirtung Pass 257 Panjshir Valley 172, 175, 182, 186, 187 Paradise Wadi 157
400
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INDEX
Paragot, Robert 222 Park, The, Nottingham 138, 165 PAs, footwear 107, 109 Patey, Tom 143, 223, 225 Payne, Robin 55 Peak 19, Pamirs 337, 346, 380 Peak District 34, 43, 61, 62, 76, 92, 130, 143, 165, 237 Peak Nineteenth Party Congress 337 Pearl Harbour 5 Peck Crackers 236 Peck, Gregory 24 Peck, Trevor 92 Pegasus Caving Club 191 Pen-y-Gwryd hotel 111 Pen-y-Pass hotel 107 People’s Park, Berkeley 240–241 Perrins, Mrs 14 Pers Glacier 201 Pertemba, Sherpa ‘PT’ 306, 364, 380 Peschiera 75 Peterson, Don 315 Petit Dru 233, 256 Pettigrew, Bob 43, 52, 57, 77, 79, 94, 95, 111, 128, 323 Peveril School 58 Pex Hill 225 Peyton, Ross 300 Phakding 287 Phantom Rib, Clogwyn y Grochan 197 Pharaoh, Wilson 71 Pheriche 364 Phu, Ang 302, 364, 370 Phurba, Ang 306, 370, 375 Pic Botoun 161 Pic Coolidge 89 Pic del Tajo de los Machos 113 Pick a Bale of Cotton (song) 29 Pico del Caballo 114 Pictorial Knowledge encyclopaedia (book) 35 Pic Toussidé 153 Pierre, Bernard 100 Piggott, A.S. 61 Pik Lenin, Pamirs 330, 331, 334, 335, 340, 352 Pink Floyd 231 Pinnacle Club 103 Piz Badile 63, 100, 104, 192, 200 Piz Bernina 200 Piz Palü 201 Pizzi Gemelli 100 Plague, the 37 Plan de l’Aiguille 80, 189 Plas y Brenin 44 Plum Buttress 63 Poe, Edgar Allan 35 Point Killabuk 270, 271 Poisoned Glen, Donegal 63, 174 Poland 331 Polaroid 182 Polar World, The (book) 271 Police Bulletin (magazine) 21 Polldubh Barn 59 Polliollok, Jok 297 Pollock, Bruce 356 Pompeii 162 Pontresina 200 Popkess, Captain Athelstan 3 Poppleston, Mick 68, 80, 108 Porteous, John 206 Porter, Charlie 312, 356 Port Fuad 53
Port Said 53 Potts, George 71 Pratt, Chuck 234, 236, 238, 240, 242, 246, 300, 354 Pravda (newspaper) 344 Prelude, The (poem) 80 Prince of Wales, Baslow 132 Principles of Physical Geography (book) 72 Proctor, Tom 210 Profumo scandal 129 Promontogno 100, 102 Public Schools Exploring Society 42 Pugh, Griffith 281 Pullen, Carol 68 Pumori 366 Punjab 140 Punta di Frida 135 Puri 327 Puttrell, J.W. 42 Q Quebec Queen Elizabeth II coronation Queen’s Grove Queen’s Scout Certificate Queen Victoria Cairn
260 32, 34, 222 1, 2, 15 59 97
R Rabat 118 Rabbits, Annette 86 Rab, island 75 Radcliffe, Chris 202 Radford Bridge Road 20, 22, 30 Radford Colliery 20, 49 Radford gasworks 7 Radford, Nottingham 92 Radford slum clearance 26 Rahman, Abdur 186 Railway Slab, Black Rocks 42 Raleigh Bicycle Company 12, 20, 49, 280 Raleigh Street 280 Rameswaram 327 Rampa, Lobsang (see Hoskin, Cyril) 77 Ranger Rock 236 Ras Dashen 147 Ras Ouanoukrim 118 Raven’s Tor 98 Rawalpindi 358 Rawlinson, Ken 319 Razdelnaya route 340, 342 Read, H.V. 219, 221 Read, Steve 105, 111, 112, 115, 120, 130, 143, 144, 168, 279, 298, 319 Reagan, Ronald 240, 241 Rébuffat, Gaston 100, 137 Rébuffat route, Aiguille du Midi 352 Recovery of Man in Childhood, The (book) 47 Rector, John 241 Red Cloud Ranch 300 Reed’s Pinnacle 241 Reich, Charles 269 Remaking the World (book) 82 Rempstone 92 Rempstone Wood 41 Renard, Benoit 345 Requin hut 77 Rhamani Glacier 321, 326 Ribbon Falls 356 Riber Castle 41 Rice-Davies, Mandy 129 Rice, Grantland 7, 209 Richards, Ronnie 342, 358, 370 Ridgeway, Rick 353
Rieder, Rik 354 Riefenstahl, Leni 200 Rikkyo University 281 Rimmon Mountaineering Club 250 Rimmon route, Troll Wall 253 Rio Arazas 258 Río Genil 115 Río Lanjarón 113 Río Valdecasillas 114 Roaches, The 138 Roaring Forty, Sail Rock 173, 174 Robbins, Liz 233, 242 Robbins, Royal 220, 222, 232–237, 238, 240, 241, 242, 245, 246, 312, 315, 354, 356 Roberts, David xiii Robert Shaw Primary School 15, 28 Roberts, Jimmy 283, 284, 302, 308, 350 Robertson, Brian 206 Robin Hood Inn, Baslow 61 Robin Hood’s Cave, Stanage 132 Robinson, Doug 312 Robinson, Mrs 138 Robinson, Tom 67, 68 Roch, André 322 Rochefort Arête 109 Rock and Heather Club 95 Rock and Ice Club 71, 95, 109, 138, 143, 218, 224, 331 Rock and Snow, shop 277 Rock Climbs on the Mountain Limestone of Derbyshire (book) 143 Rock Island Climb (film) 223 Rocky Mountain National Park 315 Roland House, hostel 72 Rommel, Erwin 150, 152 Romsdal 252, 253 Romulus and Remus 35 Rope Boy (book) 221 Roper, Steve 238 Rosa Pinnacle 67 Rosedale, Dr Barney 300, 302, 304, 309, 350 Roskelley, John 332, 337, 342 Rousseau, Henri 243 Rover, The (comic) 28 Rowell, Galen 312 Rowland, Clive 331, 332, 334, 335, 358 Royal Air Force 2, 34, 61 Royal Army Medical Corps 194 Royal Artillery 5 Royal, Brian 249 Royal Geographical Society 129, 142 Royal Life Saving Society 76 Royal Navy 42 Royal Ordnance factory, Nottingham 175 Rudolph, Erich 204 Rudolph, Walter 204 rugby 34, 56–58, 61, 76, 94, 125, 147, 194 Rumi 388 RURPs 207, 250, 279 Russell, Bertrand 89 Russell, Johnny 43 Ruttledge, Hugh 324 S Sabratha 150 Safka, Melanie 274 Sagano, Hiroshi 283 Sahara, desert 122, 125, 126, 128, 138, 142, 144, 147, 150, 162, 193 Sail Rock 173, 174 Saint Bernard Pass 75, 162
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UP AND ABOUT
Sakhi Glacier 176 Sakhi river 180 Salang Tunnel 175 Salathé, John 234, 237 Salathé Wall, El Capitan 234, 238, 243, 244–247, 311 Saleki, Mischa 287 Salutation Inn, The 95, 144, 168 Salzburg 256 Samedan hospital 102 Sandhu, Balwant 322, 323 San Francisco (song) 201 Sanson, Great-Grandma 16 Sar-i Sang 176 Sassolungo 142 Satoh, Shigeru 282 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (book) 20 Saukdara Glacier 335 Scafell 66, 70 Scafell Pike 70, 71 Schaller, Robert 316–317 Schlömmer, Leo 284 Schmuck, Marcus 333 Schneider, Horst 289, 291 Schneider, Michael 335 Sciora hut 100 Scoop, The, Strone Ulladale 231, 279 – first ascent 1969 207–209 Scotland 58–59, 73, 90, 97, 226–229, 292 Scots Guards 223 Scott, Brian (brother) 11, 14, 16, 21, 27, 28, 33, 37, 75, 88, 90, 108, 138 Scott, Captain Robert Falcon 42, 72, 149 Scott, Chic 351 Scott, Doug 33, 56, 70 – Absolute Order of Discharge 132 – adolescence 36–37 – Alps 1959 76–80 – Alps 1961 102–104 – Alps 1962 109–110 – Alps 1964 140–142 – Alps 1967 189–192 – Alps 1968 200–204 – athletics 54–56 – Atlas 1962 115–123 – baby show 1942 5 – Baffin Island 1971 260–274 – Baffin Island 1972 297–300 – Baffin Island 1973 298, 319–320 – Big Wall Climbing (book) 352 – Bonatti Pillar 202–204 – bouncer 217 – CBE 387 – Changabang 1974 320–327 – childhood 21–24, 26–28 168–171 – Cilo Dagı expedition – Cima Ovest 210–213 – Corwen Magistrates’ Court 195 – cycle to Ingoldmells 32 – death of Mingma 364–365 – Dolomites 1963 135–137, 145 – Dolomites 1964 142 – early childhood 4–16 – early climbing xii–xiii, 41–44, 61–64 – Everest 1975 349–351, 363–383 – Everest, autumn 1972 294–295, 300–309 – Everest bivouac 379–380 – Everest, spring 1972 284–293 – Everest summit 363, 378–379 – eyesight 29–28 – first Alps trip 72–75
– Gogarth 195–196, 197–199 – guiding 102–103, 110–111, 142 – hepatitis B 123, 125 – Hindu Kush 174–187 – Koh-i-Bandaka 177–180 – LSD trip 242–244 – new routes, Derwent Valley 97–98, 130–132 – North America 1975 352–357 – Norway 250–255 – Nose, El Capitan 311 – Nose, Strone Ulladale, first ascent 279 – Ogre recce, 1975 358–360 – oxygen problems, 1975 375 – Pamirs 1974 331–347 – paper round 36 – potato picking 36 – rugby 56–58 – Salathé Wall 244–247 – school 14–16, 28–30, 33, 49–51, 53–54, 67–68, 72 – Scoop 1969 207–209 – Scotland 58–59 – Scouts 37–41 – Spain 1962 112–115 – Strone Ulladale 231–232, 279–280 – Strone Ulladale 1969 205–210 – Switzerland 1961 98–102 – teacher training 76, 87, 92 – teaching 126–128, 129–130, 166, 191, 260 – Tibesti expedition 125, 128–129, 137–138, 138, 142, 147, 149–163 – ‘Warlock’ xii – wedding 1962 107–108 Scott, Douglas (photographer) 321 Scott, Garry (brother) 27, 75, 138, 165, 260 – christening 28 Scott, George (father) 2–4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12–14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 29, 30–32, 34, 35, 36, 54, 55, 88, 94, 107, 148, 165, 166, 387, 388 – boxing 3, 12 – National Service 5–7 – recording family life 32 Scott, Grandma 2–3, 26, 32, 33 Scottish Daily Express (newspaper) 209, 210 Scottish Himalayan Expedition 1951 321 Scottish Mountaineering Club 257, 352 Scott, Joyce (mother) 1–2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 29, 32, 33, 35, 37, 41, 165, 166, 387, 388 Scott, Martha (daughter) 309–310, 360, 385, 387 Scott, Michael (son) 135, 138, 142, 164–166, 191, 199, 200, 241, 249, 258, 293, 300, 308–310, 385, 387 Scott (née Brook), Janice 93, 98, 101, 104, 110, 137, 138, 142, 149, 164–166, 172, 194, 199–200, 219, 232, 238, 239, 249, 258, 260, 293, 294, 300, 308–310, 316, 352–353, 354, 357–358, 360, 385–387, 388 – pregnancy 128, 132–135 – teacher training 165, 191 – wedding 1962 107–108 Scott, Peter 202 Scouts 37–41, 42, 53, 57, 72, 81, 94, 95, 138, 148, 166, 193, 196, 234, 250, 292, 323, 388 Seagoon, Neddie 53
Sebha 162, 165 Secombe, Harry 53 Seigneur, Yannick 204 Sella Pass 142 Sellers, Peter 53 Sentinel Rock, Yosemite 234, 237 Setreng, Sigmund Kvaløy 255 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (album) 194 Sgùrr Eilde Mòr 59 Shackleton, Sir Ernest 72, 149 Shakespeare, Bas 97 Shakespeare, William ix, xvi, xix, 85, 215 Sharan 182, 184 Sharan Valley 176, 181, 182, 184 Shatayev, Elvira 343, 344, 345, 346 Shatayev, Vladimir 344 Shawangunks 231, 277, 277–278 Shaw, Mary 86 Sheffield 28, 93, 205 Sheldon, Dr William 87 Sher (kitchen boy, Hindu Kush) 180 Sherpa, Norbu 324 Sherrick, Mike 234 Sheriff of Nottingham 385 Shiprock, New Mexico 217 Shipton Col 321, 322, 323, 326 Shipton, Eric 70, 325 Shiva 328 Shockley’s Ceiling, Shawangunks 278 Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, A (book) 175 Shute, Nevil 53 Sibley, Paul 241 Sicily 162 Sickle Ledge, The Nose 311 Sidewinder, Strone Ulladale 279 Sidi Chamharouch 116 Sierra Club 218 Sierra Nevada, California 234, 240 Sierra Nevada, Spain 111, 112–115, 113, 125 Silent Spring (book) 202, 269 Sillitoe, Alan 20 Silloth 134 Simien Mountains 147 Simmons, John 171 Simon, Eddie 315 Simon, Paul 315 Simpson, Henry 55 Sinai Peninsula 194 Singapore 194 Singh, Ujagar 324 Siroua 122 Six-Day War 194 Six-Five Special (TV show) 54 Skardu 358 Skazar 176, 186 Skegness 32, 150 Skiddaw 70 Skillbeck, Mr 35 Small, Terry 96, 130, 132 Smedley’s Farm 61 Smith, Clive 40, 41, 43, 55, 56, 57, 94 Smith, Derek 279 Smith, Gordon ‘Speedy’ 331, 335, 337, 340, 342 Smith, Harry 107 Smith, Mr 20 Smith, Shirley 107 Smith, Steve ‘Sid’ 135, 140, 257, 263, 267, 270, 272 Smith, Tommie 202
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INDEX
Smith, Tony 56 Smoky Joe’s (café) 91, 115 Smythe, Frank 258 Sneinton 26 Snell Sports 77 Snively, Doug 315, 316, 353 Snowdon 44, 72, 111, 147, 197 Snowdon Biography (book) 63 Snowdonia & North Wales 132, 199, 218 Snow White 29 Soar, river 40 Soil Association 217 Solvay bivouac hut 135 Solway Firth 134 Somervell, Howard 193 Søndre Trolltind 232, 253 Sosbun Brakk 358 Sous le Toit ledge 246 Southampton 90, 91 Southampton Island 258 South Audley Street, London 192 South Col (book) 111 South Col, Everest 283, 309, 370 Southerness Point 134 South Ridge Direct, Cìr Mhòr 64 Soviet Sports Federation 331 Space Below My Feet (book) 102 Spartans 35 Spence, Kenny 206 Spider’s Web, Gogarth 223 Spigolo Giallo (Yellow Edge), Cima Piccola 135, 145 Spiral Stairs, Dinas Cromlech 94 Spooner, Graham 94 Sport and Recreation Alliance 249 Sprackling, Doctor 166 Spread Eagle, The 95 Sputnik 53 Squires, Tony 22, 32 S & S Builders 260 Stalk, The, Cheedale 63 Stanage Edge xii, 92, 95, 132, 148, 225, 237 Stanford University 238 Stan (MA client) 110 Stannard, John 278 St Ann’s, Nottingham 26, 58 Stanton and Staveley ironworks 253 Stapleford Hill 24 Stark, Freya 149 Starlight and Storm (book) 100 Star-Spangled Banner (song) 202 Steck, Allen 237, 342, 343 Steck-Salathé, Sentinel Rock 237, 310 Steele, Peter 129 Stenson, John 68, 108 Stephen, Leslie 190 St Euphemia 75 St John Ambulance Association 76 St Louis 222 St Mark’s Square, Venice 81 St Moritz 200 Stob Choire Claurigh 59 Stonehenge 10 Stoneman Meadow Riot 242 Stoney Middleton 278 Stoppers 236 Storm and Sorrow (book) 346 Stormhaven tent 267, 289 Stove Leg cracks, The Nose 311 St Patrick’s Day 157, 174 Strange, Greg 338 Strang, Lindsey 350
Straughan, Paddy 56 Street, Jack 205 Strelley 11, 26 Strone Ulladale 188, 205–210, 223, 231–232, 279–280 Stroud, Dick 144, 186 Stroud, Geoff 59, 67, 71, 72, 76, 80, 82, 94, 108, 195 Stubai pegs 189 Sturney, Terence ‘Stengun’ 41 Suez Crisis 52 Suigal Glacier 183, 184 Sultan (porter) 184 Summers, David 68 Summit Lake 257, 265, 267, 297, 298, 319 Summit Lake Pass 260 Sumner, Bill 317 Sunday Times, The (newspaper) 210 Sunset Boulevard 32 Sunset Slab, Froggatt 60 Sunshine, Monty 138 Sutton, Anne 62 Sutton Bonington Agricultural College 76 Sutton, Geoffrey 43, 62–63, 64, 100, 204, 232, 323 Sutton-in-Ashfield Police Training Centre 27 Sutton, Steve 312, 349, 350 Suva 169 Swallow’s Nest 317 ‘Swell’ dehydrated vegetables 76 Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research 256, 258 Switzerland 98–102, 200–201 Sykes, David ‘Ben’ 100 Sylvester, Rick 206 Syringe, Gogarth 196 T Tadaft n’bou Imrhaz 118 Tahquitz 315 Tajos de la Virgen 113 Tamil Nadu 327 Tangiers 122 Tantum, Reece ‘Goose’ 15 Tarbert 232 Tarso Tieroko 129, 149, 153, 155–161 Tarso Toon 153, 159, 161 Taylor, Colin 255 Taylor Peak, Colorado 353 Teach Your Children (song) 274 Teelin pier 172, 174 Tejada-Flores, Lito 221 Tengboche 308, 387 Terrace, Arthur 2 Terrain Roches Chaotiques 152, 162 Terray, Lionel 62, 104, 137 Territorial Army 132 Terry, Mick 130, 132, 175, 176, 181, 182, 184, 187, 193, 205, 207, 211 Tête Rousse hut 79 Tet Offensive 201 Texas Flake, The Nose 314 Thamel 308 That Was the Week That Was (TV show) 54 Thesiger, Wilfred 126, 129, 147, 151, 154, 156, 163 Thing, The, Dinas Cromlech 98 Third Eye, The (book) 77 Thompson, Mike 223, 375 Thompson, Peter 196, 205 Thoreau, Henry David 202 Thunderbird, The (ice axe) 317 Tibbu 153, 262
Tibesti Mountains 125, 128, 129, 137, 142, 147, 149–163, 151, 193 Tibet 182, 326 Tierra del Fuego xv Tighe, Tony 308 Tigris river 168 Tilho, Jean 153 Tilman, W.H. 324–325 Times, The (newspaper) 72 Times They Are A-Changin’, The (song) 143 Timzguida 118 Tin Bridge 29 Tinsley Steelworks 332 Tirich Mir 175, 253 Tiso, Graham 301, 302, 303, 342 Tis-sa-ack, Half Dome 315 Tissington Station 109 Tizgui 120 Tizi n’bou Imrhaz 118 Tizi n’Ouagane pass 118 Tizi n’Ouanoums pass 117, 118 Tolstoy, Leo xiv, 269 Tomlinson, Maude 4 Torino hut 109 Torla 258, 259 Toubkal 89, 91, 118, 192 – 1962 Bentley Beetham route 117, 119 Tour, Le 103 Tower Chimney, Stanage Edge 237 Towle, Mike 56 Tozal del Mallo 258–260, 261 Tramway du Mont Blanc 79 Tranter, Nigel 184 Tranter, Philip 184 Tre Cime di Lavaredo 124, 210 Treherbert 199 Trent Bridge 5 Trent Bridge Inn 138 Trent Lock 16 Trent, river 15, 92 Tricouni nails 42, 61 Trieste 75 Triglav Mountains 80 Triple Direct, El Capitan 311 Trisul 326 Triumph motorbike 96 Trivor 97, 101, 294 Troll Equipment 286 Troll Wall 250, 250–255, 252–253, 254 Trondheim 253 Trou au Natron 153, 161 Tryfan 44 Tuaregs 153 Tuck, Roddy 129 Tunis 162 Turkestan 50 Turkey 167, 168, 171, 174, 199 Turner, Beryl 86, 95, 197 Turner, Peter 56, 57, 94, 97 Turner, Roger 86, 95 Tutankhamun 176 Tweedale, Bill 250 Twilight, High Tor 143 Twin Otter 260 Twin Owls 316 Tyrol 241 U UEFA European Championship 1972 289 Uemura, Naomi 282, 284 Ullin, Chet 346 Ullin, Gary 337, 342, 346, 380
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DOUG SCOTT
Born to a lower-middle-class family 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 and they became national heroes. In total, Scott has 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 has made all his climbs in lightweight or alpine style and without the use of artificial oxygen. Scott was made a CBE in 1994. He is a former president of the Alpine Club, and in 1999 he received the Royal Geographical Society Patron’s Gold Medal. In 2011 he was awarded the Piolets d’Or Lifetime Achievement award, 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 which aims to help mountaineers support the mountain people of Nepal. Scott continues to climb, write and lecture, avidly supporting the work of CAN.
946h VP Up and About_OFC.indd 1
As darkness fell, Scott and Haston scraped a small cave in the snow 100 metres below the summit and survived the highest bivouac ever – without bottled oxygen, sleeping bags and, as it turned out, frostbite. For Doug Scott, it was the fulfilment of a fortune-teller’s prophecy given to his mother: that her eldest son would be in danger in a high place with the whole world watching. Scott and Haston returned home national heroes with their image splashed across the front pages. Scott went on to become one of Britain’s greatest ever mountaineers, pioneering new climbs in the remotest corners of the globe. His career spans the golden age of British climbing from the 1960s boom in outdoor adventure to the new wave of lightweight alpinism throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In Up and About, the first volume of his autobiography, Scott tells his story from his birth in Nottingham during the darkest days of war to the summit of the world.
‘At its finest moments climbing allows me to step out of ordinary existence into something extraordinary, stripping me of my sense of self-importance.’
Surviving the unplanned bivouac without oxygen near the summit of Everest widened the range of what and how he would climb in the future. In fact, Scott established more climbs on the high mountains of the world after his ascent of Everest than before. Those climbs will be covered in the second volume of his life and times.
ISBN 9 7 8 1 9 1 0 2 4 0 4 1 0
9 7 81910 240410 > Front cover: Dougal Haston on the south summit of Everest, 1975. Photo: Doug Scott Author photo: Chris Bonington.
At dusk on 24 September 1975, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first Britons to reach the summit of Everest as lead climbers on Chris Bonington’s epic expedition to the mountain’s immense south-west face.
Vertebrate Publishing, Sheffield www.v-publishing.co.uk
THE HARD ROAD TO EVEREST £24.00
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