Doug’s climbing achievements are legendary. He was the first Briton to climb Everest by the notoriously challenging South West Face, with fellow mountaineer Dougal Haston. He also made notable ascents of Changabang, Kangchenjunga, Nuptse, Shishapangma, and the Ogre where he broke both legs abseiling from the summit. 

In over forty five expeditions to the high mountains of Asia he made forty first ascents. After the siege tactics on the great mountains in the 1970s, Doug was a leading advocate of the lightweight alpine-style expeditions which followed. In 2011 Doug was awarded one of mountaineering’s highest honours, the Piolet D’Or Lifetime Achievement Award. 

In addition to his well-known climbing achievements, Doug set up the charity Community Action Nepal (CAN) in 1994 to improve the standard of living in remote Himalayan communities and give something back to the mountain people who had helped him to achieve his mountaineering goals. Doug and other mountaineers identified the need to improve the economic working practices of expedition porters, and this led them to realise that the communities they came from also faced major challenges including lack of health facilities, educational opportunities, and clean water.  Over the years CAN has supported tens of thousands of people in Nepal through constructing over fifty schools, health posts, Porter Rescue Shelters and implementing many other community development projects.