Who is tom ballard

He started with the Comici with the Constantini finish on the Cima Grande, had a windy time on the Matterhorns Schmid and a cold time on the Badile's Cassin. Inspired on-sighting put away the McIntyre-Colton on the Grandes Jorasses whilst his eight hours on the Dru's Allain turned Chamonix heads when it turned out to be the first winter solo.

Feeling more dead than alive he rounded off his sextet with perhaps the most iconic of all North faces with the route on the Eiger. Messner was so moved by his style and ethics that he generously said that he had thought that modern alpinism was moribund.

Now he could look forward with good heart as it was alive and well - in the guise of Tom Ballard. In Memory Of Tom Ballard - Tom Ballard Tragically Tom lost his life along with Italian climbing partner Daniele Nardi while attempting a first ascent of the Mummery Spur on Nanga Parbat in Pakistan in February , we keep his profile active now to celebrate his life and achievements.

Tom, his sister Kate, and their father would accompany Hargreaves on her expeditions to the Himalayas and the Alps and he was exposed early and often to dramatic peaks, busy base camps and Sherpa life, staples of the mountaineering existence. The remaining members of the Ballard family moved to the Alps and then the Dolomites in , and it was here that Ballard really cut his climbing teeth and quickly became known as a pioneer for creating new routes.

In his first year of living in the Alps, aged 21, he climbed the first of several new routes he established on the Eiger, which he called the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

In an interview with The Alpinist, Ballard said that during his first free ascent of the Scottish Pillar in he realized there were inconsistencies with the way the established routes were drawn, so he created the new route. In summer she soloed the Lauper Route as part of her Six North Faces project to climb the six great north faces of the Alps alone, in one season.

I was with my father and sister waiting down in Grindelwald. From December to March , during a project named "Starlight and Storms" after the famous climbing book, Ballard solo climbed the six major alpine north faces, almost 20 years after his mother — something he told the BBC was just a coincidence.

His mammoth feat was documented in a film named Tom which won Best Mountaineering Film at multiple film awards around the world. Sadly, he never made it. In , it was reported that Ballard had disappeared in bad weather while climbing Nanga Parbat, a treacherous mountain in Pakistan which has claimed the lives of many climbers.

Several days before their disappearance was reported, Ballard had told his Facebook followers that they were enjoying their time waiting for the weather to turn for the better.

A full-scale rescue mission was launched on February 24 involving high-altitude drones, military helicopters and mountaineers but was hampered by heavy snowfall and, according to BBC reports, tensions between India and Pakistan. Though their tent was found buried by an avalanche, there was no sign of the climbers.

After six days with no success, the search was called off. The following day, a Basque climber spotted the outline of two bodies roped together on the Mummery Spur and after communicating images to the families, the two climbers were officially declared dead due to an avalanche. Ballard was one of the most daring solo climbers of his generation and had he lived, he would certainly have gone on to breaking new ground in the world of climbing.

In it, his mountaineer father who has now lost both wife and son to the mountains, appeared to find comfort in knowing that Tom died doing what he loved most. Tom will be 30 forever. Julia Clarke is a staff writer for Adventure. She is an author, mountain enthusiast and yoga teacher who loves heading uphill on foot, ski, bike and belay.