Duncan "''Dougal"'' Curdy MacSporran Haston (19 April 1940 – 17 January 1977) was a Scottish
mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
noted for his exploits in the British Isles, Alps, and the Himalayas. From 1967 he was the director of the International School of Mountaineering at
Leysin
Leysin is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in the Aigle district of Switzerland. It is first mentioned around 1231–32 as ''Leissins'', in 1352 as ''Leisins''.
Located in the Vaud Alps, Leysin is a sunny alpine resort village at the easter ...
, Switzerland, a role he held until his death in an avalanche while skiing above Leysin.
Biography
Haston was born in
Currie
Currie ( gd, Currach, IPA: kʰuːᵲəx is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edi ...
, on the outskirts of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, and educated at
West Calder High School
West Calder High School is a secondary school in West Calder, West Lothian, Scotland. The current school building was officially opened in 2018 by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the UN's Special Envoy for Global Education.
History
The school ...
. Early in his career, he climbed numerous new Scottish routes with
Robin Smith. Routes such as The Bat on the Carn Dearg Buttress of Ben Nevis helped establish the pair as future stars. Smith died in an accident in 1962.
Haston lived on to realize his early promise. In 1970, he and
Don Whillans
Donald Desbrow Whillans (18 May 1933 – 4 August 1985) was an English rock climber and mountaineer. He climbed with Joe Brown and Chris Bonington on many new routes, and was considered the technical equal of both.
Early life
Born and brought ...
were the
first to climb the south face of Annapurna on an expedition led by
Chris Bonington
Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL (born 6 August 1934) is a British mountaineer.
His career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest.
Early life and expeditions
Bonington's father, w ...
, and in 1975 he and
Doug Scott
Douglas Keith Scott (29 May 19417 December 2020) was an English mountaineer, noted for being on the team that made the first ascent of the south-west face of Mount Everest on 24 September 1975. In receiving one of mountaineering's highest hon ...
were the first pair to summit
Mount Everest by the south-west face, also led by Bonington.
Haston's memorial in Currie mistakenly claims he was the first British climber to ascend the north face of the
Eiger
The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends a ...
. In fact, it was done by Bonington and
Ian Clough
Ian Clough (1937–1970) was a British mountaineer who was killed on the 1970 British Annapurna
expedition led by Sir Chris Bonington to climb the south face of the Himalayan massif. He was later described by Bonington as "the most modest man ...
in 1962, but he made the first ascent of the Nordwand by the ''direttissima'', or most direct route, in 1966 with Jörg Lehne, Günther Strobel, Roland Votteler and Siegfried Hupfauer. American
John Harlin
John Elvis Harlin II (June 30, 1935 – March 22, 1966) was an American mountaineer and US Air Force pilot who was killed while making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger.
Biography
Harlin graduated from Sequoia High School and Stanford ...
was killed when a rope (chosen by him over Haston's request they be thicker) broke; the route was subsequently named in Harlin's memory.
Adding
guiding and instruction to his quiver, Haston became director of th
International School of Mountaineeringat
Leysin
Leysin is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in the Aigle district of Switzerland. It is first mentioned around 1231–32 as ''Leissins'', in 1352 as ''Leisins''.
Located in the Vaud Alps, Leysin is a sunny alpine resort village at the easter ...
, Switzerland,
[ in 1967. Taking over from the founder, John Harlin, it was a position he maintained until his death in a skiing accident in 1977.][
In 1975, Haston was credited as an adviser on the movie '']The Eiger Sanction
''The Eiger Sanction'' is a 1972 thriller novel by Trevanian, the pen name of Rodney William Whitaker. The story is about a classical art professor and collector who doubles as a professional assassin, and who is coerced out of retirement to ave ...
'', directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
.[https://i.ibb.co/W5PWfRp/Screenshot-20.jpg ]
Haston was killed in an avalanche in January 1977 while skiing alone above Leysin on the northeast face of La Riondaz to the Col Luisset. It appeared that he had been choked by his scarf. He is buried in Leysin.
Filmography
* ''Haston: A Life in the Mountains'' BBC2 2006.
Bibliography
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See also
* List of 20th-century summiters of Mount Everest
Mount Everest, at is currently the world's highest mountain and is a particularly desirable peak for mountaineers. This is a list of people who reached the summit of Mount Everest in the 20th century. Overall about 1,383 people summited Everes ...
* Alpine guides
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
References
External links
*Peter Donnelly, ‘Haston, Duncan Curdy McSporran ougal(1940–1977)’
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 18 May 2007
*
Dougal Haston's inductee profile
in the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haston, Dougal
1940 births
1977 deaths
Alpine guides
Sportspeople from Edinburgh
Scottish mountain climbers
Sport deaths in Switzerland
British summiters of Mount Everest
British rock climbers
Deaths in avalanches
Ice climbers
Mountaineering deaths