Doug Scott teamed up with fellow climber Jim Fotheringham to recall a lifetime of adventure, danger, life-saving charity work... and a Bonny Baby competition!

The pair met for a special evening to raise funds for his charity Community Action Nepal and for the chosen charity of Cumbria’s High Sheriff, Marcia Reid Fotheringham.

In a relaxed interview with Jim Fotheringham, the husband of the High Sheriff, Doug reminisced on his 66-year-long love affair with mountains.

He told how he tackled Mont Blanc aged just 18 along with a friend, but with no map; of an early expedition to the Tibesti range in Chad using a road map of North Africa; and of his legendary descent of The Ogre with both legs broken.

A member of the first British team to scale the south-west face of Everest in 1975, Doug’s expeditions across the world’s mountain ranges have earned him a revered place in British climbing history.

His achievements have been recognised with a CBE, the John Muir Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, and The Royal Geographic Society Patron’s Gold Medal.

He also revealed to his audience at the Tullie House Museum in Carlisle that his first-ever honour was winning a Bonny Baby competition and claiming the prize of seven shillings and sixpence for his parents.

As well as fond – and not so fond – memories of the the past, the legendary mountaineer also gave his views on the present state of the sport.

He spoke of his dismay at the installation of bolts on previously conquered routes, the expedition-style ‘sieging’ of certain climbs and the commercialisation of climbing in general.

He is particularly concerned with the huge numbers of mountaineers and the resultant queues on Everest destroying the unique experience that the climbers are seeking from the world’s highest peak.

This year’s climbing season on the mountain saw eight deaths, the most in the past four years. There was a record-breaking summit in May with at least 220 climbers reaching the peak,

Doug’s long association with Nepal and his love and respect for the people who have helped him so much in his career led to him setting up his charity to help the mountain people of Nepal, who are among the poorest on the planet.

Doug started the charity in 1989 and when civil war broke out in the country in the mid-90s, it provided direct support to schools, health posts and other community projects that were being neglected by the government.

After 30 years, CAN has provided or directly supported over 45 projects in Nepal, including 20 health posts, 15 schools, three porter rescue shelters, seven community buildings and many social welfare and community-related projects.

It currently provides access to health care, education and porter protection to approximately 250,000 rural Nepalis.

The organisation is dedicated to “helping mountain people to help themselves” raising their standard of living and strengthening indigenous, community-based culture.

The charity helps some of the poorest people in the country, living in remote areas of Nepal.

They were among the hardest-hit by the earthquake in 2015 which killed nearly 9,000 people and injured nearly 22,000.

The event ended with an auction of spectacular prints portraying many of Doug’s climbing feats and signed by the climbers involved, with all proceeds going to CAN.

Money raised from tickets sales for the event will be shared between CAN and the Cumbria Community Foundation, the High Sheriff’s chosen charity for her year in office.