She spent more than a year preparing for the trip by training on Ben Nevis, where her husband, climber Jim Ballard, works part-time. They would later marry and have two children - Tom and Kate. Tom Ballard's father Jim told The Times his son's disappearance in the Himalayas brought back memories of when his wife Alison Hargreaves went missing on the same peaks in 1995. The mum-of-two, who died descending K2 … Mr Ballard said: “That young Nepalese climber has … Despite promising academic results, Alison left school at 18 and rather than go to university set up a mountaineering equipment company with the man she later married, Jim Ballard… THE dad of a Scots climber missing on a “killer mountain” fears his son has perished on the same K2 peak as his explorer wife. Her widower, Jim Ballard, clearly did not cooperate. A few months later, on October 15, Hargreaves was belaying her husband, Jim Ballard, at a local crag, Cromford Black Rocks, when she “felt the first contractions of labour,” wrote Ed Douglas and David Rose in Regions of the Heart, their biography of Hargreaves. Her husband, Jim Ballard, also a climber, was left to raise young Tom and Kate as a single father in Scotland. Tom Ballard is an accomplished climber ... Tom's anxious dad, Jim Ballard, told The Times yesterday that the search has brought back memories of his wife's death on K2 in 1995. Tom was born the following day. Risk of frostbite Climber Alison Hargreaves with son Tom, daughter Kate and husband Jim Ballard, weeks before she died. It was her second attempt on … She moved in with her partner Jim Ballard, who shared her interest in climbing and skiing. The father of climber Tom Ballard, who went missing in the Himalayas five days ago, has said his son's disappearance is bringing back painful memories of his wife's death on K2 in 1995. He is a looming, ugly presence throughout, his motives never clear. Tragic mountain climber Alison Hargreaves was repeatedly battered by her husband, her biographer claimed yesterday.