Dougal Haston: The Philosophy of Risk

by Jeff Connor

Book Overview

For all those who wonder what motivates men and women to risk their lives in the mountains, this intimate portraint of a driven, tortured personality provides many of the anwers. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1841953407
• ISBN13: 9781841953403
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Canongate Us
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Mick Jagger of the Climbing World

Dougal was one of the lucky lads born at just the right time to come of age in the `60's when his special type of charisma was coin of the realm. He was handsome in an unusual Jean Belmondo sort of way, arrogant, enigmatic, rail thin and intense, spoke little and modestly, dressed like a peacock, and had the gleam of destiny in his eye.He grew up poor and rowdy in Currie, Scotland, was a moderate student, and discovered climbing when a young teen. From that time on, everybody and everything took a back seat to his ever-widening aspirations. He was flashy, determined and as ascetic on the hills as he was sybaritic on the ground. He went from the Scottish Hills, to the Alps, to Everest in ever-increasing adulation, not the least of it from the ladies. He was killed in an avalanche in Switzerland at age 36. The stylish scarf he wore choked him.The book gets off to an extremely slow start. The first third is devoted to Dougal's early days in Scotland. Intricate details are given of every hill he ever climbed as a lad. Many of these elaborate facets could only be of interest to another Scottish climber, as there is no map shown, and the reader is not given a sense of the progression of difficulties. Also, Mr. Connor is strangely ambivalent about his youthful subject. The author is at great pains to remind us that a contemporary of Haston's, Robin Smith who was killed in a fall in 1962, was Dougal's superior in every way---on the mountains, socially and academically. At times, I wondered why the author had not chosen Mr. Smith as his subject. When Dougal gets to the Alps, the book kicks in and becomes a fascinating read about Haston's expanding skills and extreme climbing right on to the Himalayas. The author focuses on the strong partnerships Haston forged and his hard work as a member of the team. The book is at its best when Haston is allowed to speak for himself via diaries and journals.Haston, except for his genius on the mountain, was not an admirable man. He had no particular interest in money, but didn't care how he came by it taking advantage of his friends and forgetting favors. He was a wild drunk (for some reason the author backs off of the word "alcoholic," which Haston certainly was). He was at fault in a fatal auto accident where he ran away from the scene leaving the dead and injured on the road. He left friends and family behind when they no longer did him any good. In his own lights, he lived as he had to; his whole being was focused on the next climb, what and wherever it was.Enjoyable and thought provoking with enough technical material to satisfy the climbers and enough human interest for the general reader.