Short answer: Krakauer probably feels admiration, respect, trust, and a good deal of personal affection for Doug. He sees Doug as driven and capable and assumes Doug is the most likely client on their expedition to reach the summit.
Step-by-step evidence from the passage:
- Experience and capability: Krakauer notes Doug had "fifteen years of experience" and was "fully capable of looking after himself on the heights." This shows respect for Dougs skills and self-sufficiency.
- Confidence in success: Krakauer explicitly says, "If anyone was going to reach the summit from our expedition, I assumed it would be Doug: he was strong, he was driven, and he had already been very high on Everest." That sentence directly expresses Krakauers confidence in Dougs prospects.
- Personal warmth and admiration: Krakauer describes Dougs tender, conscientious side — writing postcards to schoolchildren and faxes to his kids and beaming when reading them. Those details create an affectionate tone and humanize Doug, so Krakauers feeling is not just professional respect but personal fondness.
- Nuance — not idealized: Krakauer also points out Doug "wasn't an elite mountaineer," and mentions Dougs painful near-miss the previous year. But even with that nuance, Krakauer still expects and believes in Dougs ability to succeed, which reinforces the overall positive appraisal.
Conclusion: Taken together, the clues show Krakauer admires Dougs determination and ability, trusts him as a strong team member, and feels warm personal affection toward him. Krakauers attitude is supportive and respectful, with hope that Doug will be the one to reach the summit.