Alison Hargreaves

Alison Hargreaves (February 17, 1963 – August 13, 1995) was an English (from Derbyshire) female mountain climber. She was educated in Derbyshire at Belper School. Her accomplishments included being the second person to scale Mount Everest solo without supplementary oxygen in 1995. She also soloed all the great north faces of the Alps in a single season—a first for any climber. [http://outside.away.com/news/specialreport/alison/w01.html Scottish Climber Alison Hargreaves and Six Others Killed on K2] by Paul Roberts] This feat included climbing the famously difficult north face of the Eiger in the Alps in 1993. Hargreaves also climbed Ama Dablam (6812m) in Nepal.

In 1995 Alison Hargreaves intended to climb the three highest mountains in the world—Mount Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga—unaided. On 13 May 1995 she reached the summit of Everest without the aid of Sherpas or bottled oxygen. [http://www.everestnews.com/history/climbers/alisonhargreaves.htm Alison Hargreaves] Biographical entry from EverestNews.com]

K2 Climb

After a brief return to the United Kingdom and her family, she left in June 1995 to join an American team which had gained a permit to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, located in Pakistan. K2 is regarded as a significantly more difficult and dangerous climb than Everest. By August 13, 1995, the remnants of the US team and Hargreaves had joined forces with a New Zealand and Canadian team at Camp 4, around 7600m above sea level, and at least 12 hours from the summit. Later that day, having joined with a Spanish team above Camp 4, New Zealander Peter Hillary (son of Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary) decided to turn back, noting that the weather that had been fine for the previous four days appeared to be changing. [http://www.peterhillary.com/Inthename.htm In the name of the father: The 1995 K2 Expedition] by Peter Hillary] At 6:45pm, in fine conditions, Hargreaves and Javier Olivar (Spain) reached the summit, followed by Rob Slater (US), Javier Escartín (Spain), Lorenzo Ortíz (Spain) and Bruce Grant (NZ). All, however, died in a violent storm while returning from the summit. [http://www.xs4all.nl/~rmvl/en/alison.html The Last Ascent of Alison Hargreaves] by Greg Child. Originally from Outside magazine, November 1995] Canadian Jeff Lakes, who had turned back below the summit earlier, managed to reach one of the lower camps, but died from the effects of exposure. Hargreaves's body was never found.

The climbing community and press had questioned the ethics of a mother engaging in such a dangerous sport. Hargreaves responded "that she had thought about taking her husband and children with her to base camp, but she feels it’s rather 'inhospitable' there. Besides, none of her male climbing partners had brought their young families along for the climb."

To commemorate the life of his wife, Alison's husband took their two children to K2 to stand in the shadow of the mountain that claimed the life of their mother.

See also

* List of climbers
* List of female climbers

References

Sources

*cite book |last= Curran|first= Jim|title= K2: Triumph and Tragedy|id= ISBN 0-89886-683-9
*cite book |last= Rose|first= David|coauthors= Ed Douglas|title= Regions of the Heart : The Triumph and Tragedy of Alison Hargreaves|year= 2000|id= ISBN 0-7922-7695-7
*Hargreaves, Alison (1995). "A Hard Day's Summer: Six Classic North Faces Solo". London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-60602-9
* [http://gleebooks.com.au/default.asp?p=gleaner/2005/jul/feature_secondhand_htm Savage Summit: The True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2, The World's Most Feared Mountain] by Jennifer Jordan (William Morrow, New York, 2005).
*Peter H. Hansen, ‘Hargreaves, Alison Jane (1962–1995)’, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/58208 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] , Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006
*Susan Frohlick, "'Wanting the Children and Wanting K2': The incommensurability of motherhood and mountaineering in Britain and North America in the late twentieth century," Gender, Place and Culture, 13:5 (October 2006): 477-490.
* [http://bubl.ac.uk/org/tacit/tac/tac27/tvreview.htm Review of BBC documentary 'Inside Story - Alison's Last Mountain']
*British Woman Conquers Everest (with pictures)(BBC Article) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/13/newsid_2843000/2843951.stm]