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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. 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.
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. 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. 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 following year in 1996, her husband Jim Ballard accompanied
by their two children made a pilgrimage to Pakistan to stand in
the shadow of K2. Both of Alison’s children have developed an
interest in climbing and Jim would like to make it his
profession.
PM Don Bradford
Alison
Hargreave’s Farewell to K2 was composed by PM Don Bradford
of the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band. Originally from Aughnacloy,
Co. Tyrone, Don Bradford has played with many top bands
including Boghall & Bathgate, David Urquhart, 78th Fraser
Highlanders, Strathclyde Police, Black Bottle and the Field
Marshal Montgomery. Don was recently appointed to the position
of Pipe Major of Strathclyde Police. |
