Doug Scott, who descended Karakoram Ogre in the Himalayas on broken legs last year, has rejected the Victoria Sporting Club’s Valour in Sport award

Doug Scott, the mountaineer who crawled for six days down a Himalayan peak after breaking both legs, has rejected a bravery award. He reversed his decision to accept the trophy yesterday, five days before a presentation ceremony was due to be held in London.

His decision to accept the Victoria Sporting Club’s Valour in Sport gold wreath only came after fellow climber Chris Bonington had told him that up to £25,000 came with the award. Mr Scott had planned to give his to the Mount Everest Foundation, which channels grants to mountaineering expeditions.

But yesterday, after talking to the head of the Victoria Club’s award committee, he found that he had been misled.

“I had no hesitation in turning it down and I think it is rather unsporting of the Sporting Club to suggest I turned it down because there wasn’t enough loot in it for myself. It would not help climbing for me to accept it.” When he first heard of the award he had not wanted to be included because it would introduce commercialism into the sport.

He and Bonington had decided that they would take the money - as a team - but would ask for the cheque to be made out to the Everest foundation. “No climber that I know of has ever taken a cash award. It is just anathema to climbers. It is something which is just not done.”

Mr Scott’s descent from the Karakoram Ogre last July, though agonising and courageous, was seen by fellow mountaineers as little more than common sense. The only alternative was to stay on the top and probably die.

However, Sir Stanley Rous, chairman of the panel of judges, has written to Mr Scott saying that he regrets the climber’s decision and Mr Cyril Levan, founder of the award, said: “Frankly, I am utterly disgusted. I hope we haven’t yet reached the day when we have to value courage for cash.”

The award is presented annually. Last year’s winner was Niki Lauda, the Austrian racing driver who returned to the track after nearly dying in a crash.

The award committee will meet at the weekend to decide who will now get the trophy. The favourite is the racing driver David Purley, who, like Lauda, has returned to the sport after a serious accident.

Chris Brasher investigated the furore for the Observer