Today, British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves would have turned 63. Hargreaves dedicated her life to climbing but died too early, in the 1995 K2 tragedy.
Hargreaves was born in Derbyshire, England, on Feb. 17, 1962. Her parents were avid hikers, and the Hargreaves family often spent time walking in England and Scotland. At nine, Alison climbed Ben Nevis. At 13, she started rock climbing.
Alison Hargreaves in October 1988, holding her son Tom Ballard at Black Rock, overlooking the Derbyshire countryside. Photo: Phil O Brien
Hargreaves left home at 18 and moved in with her boyfriend, Jim Ballard, whom she later married. Ballard also loved climbing and took a job selling mountaineering equipment. The couple had two kids: Tom (born in 1988) and Kate (born in 1991).
In 1984, when Hargreaves sent in her application to the Alpine Club, she already had extensive experience in the Alps.
Hargreaves’ application to the Alpine Club in 1984. Photo: The Alpine Club
New route on Kangtega
In the spring of 1986, Hargreaves took part in the Kangtega-Nuptse Expedition, a joint U.S.-UK party led by Jeff Lowe.
Kangtega (6,783m) is located in the Khumbu Himal, southwest of Ama Dablam. David Dornan, Tom Frost, Michael Gill, and Jim Wilson — members of an international team led by Edmund Hillary — made the first ascent on June 5, 1963 via the southeast face.
By the end of 1985, 15 climbers from four different teams had topped out on Kangtega. A Japanese team had summited in 1979 via the north face, a Catalan team had topped out in 1984 via the southeast face, and a South Korean team climbed the southwest face-south ridge route in 1985.
Kangtega in Nepal. Photo: Nazif Vt
Lowe’s 1986 team chose a new route on the right side of Kangtega’s northwest face. The expedition consisted of six members: Jeff Lowe, Alison Hargreaves, Tom Frost, Henry Kendall, Bruce Roghaar, and Mark Twight.
On May 1, Hargreaves and Twight reached the summit after successfully ascending the steep, icy northwest face. They descended by the northeast couloir. Hargreaves was the first Brit to summit Kangtega.
In the autumn of 1987, Hargreaves attempted Ama Dablam, reaching 5,700m.
Hargreaves on Kangtega. Photo: Mark Twight
Eiger: pregnant, not sick
Hargreaves made several great climbs in the European Alps. After Kangtega, she went back to the Alps in 1988 and climbed the North Face of the Eiger while six months pregnant with her first child. After the climb, she received criticism.
“I was pregnant, not sick,” Hargreaves responded
Ballard realized his wife possessed extraordinary skills and determination, and the couple sold their house to move to Switzerland.
Hargreaves with her children Tom and Kate in 1993, with the Grandes Jorasses as a backdrop. Photo: Tom Ballard
Soloing the six classic North Faces of the Alps
In 1993, Hargreaves became the first climber to solo the six classic North Faces of the Alps in one season: the Eiger, Matterhorn, Petit Dru, Piz Badile, Grandes Jorasses, and Cima Grande di Lavaredo.
She was the first woman to solo the Croz Spur on the Grandes Jorasses (1993, in a day). She also made several other first female solo ascents, including Aiguille du Petit Dru, the Cassin Route on the Cima Grande in the Dolomites, and the Matterhorn.
She was the first British woman to climb the Eiger North Face, the North Face of Les Droites, and the super couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul.
In 1994, she published a book about her climbs: A Hard Day’s Summer.
Hargreaves with her children. Photo: Alison Hargreaves
Everest
In the autumn of 1994, Hargreaves took part in the British Everest Medical Expedition led by Simon Currin. The expedition climbed the South Col-Southeast Ridge route. Charlie Hornsby, Roddy Kirkwood, Dawa Temba Sherpa, and Dorje Sherpa summited.
Hargreaves climbed from Camp 4 to 8,400m in five hours but had to turn around when her feet began to feel numb.
Hargreaves’ next project was ambitious. She wanted to climb Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga in one year without bottled oxygen.
Tom Ballard playing with toy cars at Everest Base Camp in 1994. Photo: Tom Ballard
In the spring of 1995, Hargreaves went to Everest alone. She aimed to climb the North Col-Northeast Ridge route without bottled oxygen or Sherpa support.
Above Advanced Base Camp, she moved independently of other teams, did not use the fixed ropes, and climbed without supplemental oxygen or support. Hargreaves only used the ladder on the Second Step, high on the mountain.
She topped out on May 13, becoming the first woman to climb Everest unsupported without supplemental oxygen.
“To Tom and Kate, my two children, I am on the highest point in the world, and I love them dearly, over,” Hargreaves said over the radio.
“[She is] a new star of the Himalaya, for women, but also men,” a climber told The Himalayan Database afterward.
Hargreaves on the summit of Everest in 1995. Photo: Alison Hargreaves
Death on K2
Only a few months later, in the summer of 1995, Hargreaves headed to Pakistan to fulfill her second big goal: to climb K2 without support or supplemental oxygen.
According to Lorenzo Ortas Pont, a member of a Spanish team on K2 that year, Hargreaves told them before the summit push that she would not go to Kangchenjunga after K2 but instead return to Scotland (where she and the family moved in 1995) to spend time with her children on the beach.
Hargreaves summited on August 13, along with other climbers from various teams. They topped out very late that afternoon, and a huge windstorm caught them just below the summit during their descent.
Alison Hargreaves. Photo: Facebook
The 1995 tragedy is one of the most tragic events of K2’s climbing history. Hargreaves was likely blown off the mountain. She was 33 years old. Six other climbers also died. In a separate article, we will examine the 1995 disaster.
Tom Ballard
Hargreaves’ son, Tom Ballard, became an outstanding climber. Between December 2014 and March 2015, he followed in his mother’s footsteps, climbing the six great North Faces of the Alps solo. He was the first person to complete this feat in a single winter season without a support team.
Ballard died on Feb. 24, 2019, on Nanga Parbat.
The Gilkey Memorial at K2. Photo: Alpine Adventure Guides
