The Leader of Nottingham City Council has paid tribute to legendary mountaineer and Freeman of the City, Doug Scott, who has died at the age of 79.
Doug Scott, pictured left, was born in Nottingham in May 1941 and became a Freeman in 1976, the year after he made history by scaling the summit of Mount Everest.
Mr Scott began climbing at the age of 12 and over the course of his life reached the summit of 40 peaks around the world. Half were first ascents and all were climbed by new routes or for the first time in Alpine Style, which involved carrying food, shelter and equipment himself.
In 1994, he founded the charity Community Action Nepal to help people in the Himalayas, and more recently raised thousands of pounds in lockdown by climbing up and down his stairs.
He reached the highest peaks on all seven continents – ‘the Seven Summits’ – and was a past president of the Alpine Club. He was made a CBE in the Queen’s Honours List of 1994, and five years later he received the Royal Geographical Society Patron’s Gold Medal.
Councillor David Mellen, Leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “It was with real sadness that I learned of the passing of Nottingham-born mountaineer and Freeman of the City, Doug Scott. He started out as a teacher, like I did, but clearly decided quite early on that his passion for challenge and adventure lay beyond the classroom.
“To have crammed so much into his life is a wonderful testament to the kind of driven and dedicated person that he was, and the incredible tales of surviving a night at the top of Everest with no oxygen supply and limited protection against the minus-40 degree cold are legendary. He will be much missed.”