Memorial Cairn to Douglas Bruce Scott at Ling
The following information has kindly been provided by Alan Scott, Douglas's brother:
Cairn to Douglas Bruce Scott
The cairn near the Ling Hut in Torridon was erected by the family of Douglas Bruce Scott who died in a fall while ice climbing the Eagle Buttress
of Lochnagar on Saturday, May 1, 1971. Born in Helmsdale, Sutherland, in December, 1947, the youngest of three sons of Jean and Jack Scott,
Douglas developed his love of climbing with the Scout movement which he joined a few years after the family moved to Inverness in the early 1950s.
He was an enthusiastic Rover and Venture Scout, and holder of Scouting’s top award, the Queen’s Scout Badge.
At the time of the accident, Douglas was a trainee quantity surveyor with construction firm Laing, working on the Gartnavel Hospital project in
Glasgow. He was one of two young people in the UK Laing had decided to sponsor for a year with Voluntary Service Overseas, after which Douglas
had intended entering university to take his full surveying qualifications.
As indicated on his memorial cairn, permission for which was kindly given by the Wills family, Torridon was his first love. He spent most weekends
in the area. Just the weekend before the accident, he had completed a first climb on Liathach with climbing companion Peter Macdonald, an
Inverness solicitor. The cairn is a regular place of pilgrimage by family and friends in memory of Douglas and his parents whose ashes are also scattered
in the area.