Doug Scott: Everest summit mountaineer dies aged 79

A mountaineer who was part of the first UK team to summit Everest via the south-west face has died aged 79.

Doug Scott was part of the famous team to complete the challenge in 1975.

He also founded the charity Community Action Nepal (CAN) in 1994 to help people in the Himalayas, and had raised thousands of pounds in lockdown by climbing up and down his stairs.

Nottingham-born Mr Scott, who had cancer, died at his home in Caldbeck, in the Lake District.

On 24 September 1975, expedition leader Chris Bonington reported Dougal Haston and Mr Scott, part of an 18-strong group, had reached the 29,028ft (8,848m) summit safely and were on their way down the mountain.

The south-west face of Everest has been regarded as one of mountaineering's most difficult challenges because of its length and exposure to high-level winds.

A spokesman for CAN said: "It is with a very, heavy heart that we inform you that our founder, leader and great friend, Doug Scott, passed away peacefully this morning, at his home with his family around him."

The 1975 expedition was marred by the disappearance of another climber, Mick Burke, four days later on his way to the summit.

After the Everest expedition, Mr Scott recalled how their torches had failed and they were out of oxygen so he and Mr Haston decided to camp 300ft from the summit.

"The main thing was to get out of the wind so we dug a snow cave and sat on our rucksacks for the next nine hours in temperatures of around minus 40 degrees centigrade," he said.