doughty

doughty \DOW-tee\, adjective:

Marked by fearless resolution; valiant; brave.

He was obsessed with the Arctic, his imagination stoked by epic accounts of the doughty pioneers who had led wooden ships into uncharted waters and northern mists.
-- Sara Wheeler, "In Cold Blood?", New York Times, February 25, 2001

One day he stumbled, fell against the spinning saw and half severed his left arm. It was three days before a doctor came, but the doughty old Swede was still alive.
-- Quentin Reynolds, "The Bold Victory of a Man Alone", New York Times, September 13, 1953

Doughty comes from Old English dohtig, "brave, valiant, fit."