Regions of the Heart

Description

Published by Michael Joseph/Penguin Group, London, 1999, 1st UK Edition, D/w, Fine.   Biography of Alison Hargreaves (1962-1995), one of the most gifted, accomplished and determined mountaineers of her generation, who died in 1995 during her descent from the summit of K2 in a violent storm.  In the 1995 season, Alison was attempting to climb the three highest mountains in the world unaided i.e. without sherpas or bottled oxygen and had already succeeded on Everest, before her death on K2.  Alison had previously (in 1993) climbed all six classic north face route in the Alps in a single season, the first person to do so.  Following her death, there was significant negative press coverage questioning whether, as a mother of two young children, she should have been climbing at all.  This coverage bypassed her achievements as a mountaineer in a way that would not have happened with a male climber.  This biography sets the record straight about the scale of her achievements and also about her devotion to her children.