Alison+Hargreaves

**British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves (1962 - 1995) was hailed as one of the finest climbers in the world. In 1993 she was the first person to climb by herself, and in one season, the six north faces of the Alps. Two years later she made history again as the first woman, and only the second person ever, to reach the summit of Mount Everest without porters, climbing partners, or supplementary oxygen. Then, tragedy trumped triumph in August of 1995, when Hargreaves's conquering of Pakistan's fearsome K2 ended in her death during the descent from the summit. ** **__Rocks and Rebellion __** **Hargreaves was born on February 17, 1962, and grew up in ****Derbyshire****, England. Her mother was a teacher and her father a scientific officer, and both were mathematicians and avid hill walkers. From the time she was six, Hargreaves joined her family walking the hills of England and Scotland, and her fearlessness was soon evident. "When she was about 9 years old, we went climbing on ****Ben Nevis****, the highest mountain in Britain," her father recalled to David Ellis of //People//. "Suddenly, she dashed ahead of us, and we got quite worried. We found her sitting quite ****happily**** about 500 feet higher up." ** **Hargreaves's ****fascination**** with climbing was cemented when she was introduced to rock climbing at the age of 13. In an interview conducted by fellow climber Matt Comeskey at her K2 expedition's base camp in 1995, and quoted by Julie Smyth of the London //Sunday Times//, Hargreaves recounted those school days in Derbyshire. "Hilary Boardman was a teacher there. Everyone at that school did a morning's rock climbing. I had really looked forward to that first morning for weeks, and it was brilliant. I could channel my aggression, but still use mental ****agility**** to get myself up. That was the first rock climb." By the time she was 14, the ****diminutive**** (she was only 5′2″) ****climber**** was seeking out rock faces all over Britain. And although Hargreaves took the appropriate tests in high school to follow her parents' and sister's paths to Oxford University, mathematics never really stood a chance. "It took over," she told Peter Gillman of London's //Sunday Times//. "I desperately wanted to go climbing all the time." ** **Part of Hargreaves's ambition and decision was undoubtedly fueled by her relationship with amateur climber Jim Ballard, and they were married in 1988. ** ** __At the Top__ **
 * __Alison Jane Hargreaves (February 17, 1963 – August 13, 1995)__**
 * Mountaineering is a difficult pursuit for many reasons, but one of the most ****banal** ** of these can be the most trying: money. Without independent wealth of their own, climbers must rely on sponsorships to provide for such expenses as travel and gear. And, naturally, such funding does not appear unless the climber has proved his or her **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">**mettle** **<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. Hargreaves's early career had been a financial drain on her family, and this came to a head in 1993 when, again finding no sponsor for her work, the couple sold their home, pulled up stakes, **