HE was the Scot who became the first Briton to stand on top of the world.
Now, 45 years later, Dougal Haston’s incredible triumph is being recreated in an unusual way - by climbing staircases around the country to the equivalent height of Everest.
Sir Chris Bonnington, who led the 1975 team, has joined fellow members Doug Scott and Paul “Tut” Braithwaite to head an appeal for participants.
But missing from recreating the Everest triumph will be Currie-born Haston, who tragically died two years later, aged 36, in an avalanche while skiing in Switzerland.
He and Scott were the first Britons from the team to stand on the summit on September 24, 1975.
The south-west face expedition was also marred by the disappearance of Mick Burke during his bid to reach the summit.
Sir Chris’s book about the climb was called Everest the Hard Way – a reference to the fact it was then the hardest route up the mountain.
Haston, who ran the International School of Mountaineering in Switzerland, and Scott, a mountain lecturer from Nottingham, had previously failed twice to conquer it.
The Queen sent a message to the team offering her warmest congratulations on a “magnificent achievement”.
Now Sir Chris and Scott, together with some of Britain’s most famous mountaineers, are seeking volunteers for the unusual new “Everest” challenge.
But, instead of facing months of acclimatisation and climbing, they will only have to scale their stairs 20 times.
And, unlike the real mountain, there is no danger of altitude sickness or avalanche.
The charity event is in aid of Community Action Nepal (CAN), which aims to raise cash for projects in the remote Himalayan regions.
“It’s been 45 years since Doug Scott and Dougal Haston stood on the summit of Everest, and become the first Britons to do – and the first ever team to ascend the south-west face,” said the charity.
“To commemorate this incredible achievement, we’re inviting you to climb Everest – from the comfort of your own home.
“We will be re-uniting members of the original 1975 expedition, as well bringing you exclusive video content from some of the greatest mountaineering legends of past and present.
“Please join our founder, Doug Scott, our Patron, Sir Chris Bonington and our Trustee, Paul ‘Tut’ Braithwaite in climbing Everest to help raise essential funds for Community Action Nepal.”
CAN are asking the public to collectively climb the equivalent height of 8,848m (29,029ft) on their own staircases.
Organisers said anyone wanting to take the Everest Challenge should climb their staircase 20 times, take a photo of themselves at the “summit” of the 20th climb, upload it to social media or email it directly to CAN, make a donation via their JustGiving fundraising page and invite at least five friends to take part.
The charity said there would be special prizes for the most imaginative climbs, including best outfit, funniest photo and most family members climbing together.
It will also be adding up how many stairs have been climbed and calculating how far up the mountain participants have collectively travelled.
As certain milestones are reached, the charity will release specially recorded interviews with some of the original team members.
Prizes will be on offer for the best records.
Sir Chris, 85, who will be climbing in his old Everest gear, recently said he had got through lockdown by thinking of when he first scaled Suilven in the Scottish Highlands.
The mountain was also immortalised in the film Edie, in which Sheila Hancock stars as an octogenarian who makes a lifechanging decision to climb its slopes.
Sir Chris, who also briefly became the oldest known person to summit Mount Everest in April 1985, at the age of 50, placed Suilven at the top of the mountains that shaped his career.
“I first climbed Suilven back when I was 17 and it is one of the most magical days I have ever had,” he said.
“That day captured everything that I love about climbing.” Details of the Everest challenge can be found at https://www.canepal.org. uk/everest2020.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here