Alison Hargreaves: Died climbing K2 in 1995
The son of climber Alison Hargreaves, who died on K2, is setting out to complete the climb that claimed his mother’s life.
Tom Ballard, 21, is training to scale the 28,000ft peak which is the second highest in the world.
Hargreaves was blown off K2 while descending from the summit in August 1995, leaving behind her husband and two children.
Ballard, who has been climbing since he was a child, told a BBC film crew last week that the fact his mother was killed on the same summit did not daunt him.
He said: “It’s no different to if she had died in a car crash. I would still then travel around in a car. I think I need to climb mountains, it’s inside.”
“Maybe initially she would have been against it, but then she would realise that I like doing what she liked doing, so she would see the parallels and probably enjoy it for that.
“She would still be nervous for me, but I think she would be proud and happy that I was doing what I want to do. I am following in her footsteps, they are already there so I can just step in them and carry on.”
An inspiration to thousands during her life, Hargreaves was criticised by some following her death for leaving her young children without a mother.
Her death came just three months after she became the first woman ever to reach the top of Mount Everest alone and without oxygen. Her body was never recovered.
Only 300 people have successfully conquered K2, which lies on the border between Pakistan and China, with 78 having died in the pursuit.
Ballard, along with his father Jim and sister Kate, 18, moved from their Fort William home to Switzerland last year as he prepared for the climb.
Jim Ballard says he in no way pushed his son into a climbing career.
He said: “I never have encouraged him, but any parent should support their children in their ambitions,” he said. “Nobody would blink at all if Tom had decided, at 18, to go in the marines.
“I think she (Alison) would be very proud of the kids. I think with Tom there would always be a bit of rivalry, because I don’t think it would sit too easily with her the fact that he is so good.”
Ballard intends to complete the climb on his own using hand-held and helmet cameras to record the ascent for a TV documentary.
