TOM BALLARD was only 10 or 11 when he decided that all he wanted to do when he grew up was climb mountains.

What made such a young child’s choice of career all the more extraordinary was that just a few years earlier his mother, Alison Hargreaves, had been killed during an attempt to climb K2, one of the world’s most dangerous mountain peaks.

Now – 20 years after her death – Ballard has vindicated both his own early ambition and his mother’s memory, by becoming the first person to complete solo climbs of all six of the great north faces of the Alps in winter.

The project, named Starlight and Storm, involved Ballard climbing Cima Grande di Lavaredo, Pizzo Badile, Matterhorn, Grandes Jorasses, Petit Dru and the Eiger in one season and alone, without the help of a support team to come to his aid.

Speaking yesterday, shortly after completing the last of the six climbs, Ballard said he hoped his mother would have been proud of him. “I think she would have been, yes,” he said.

Ballard, 26, recalled the moment he decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps.

He said: “One day when I was in primary school, I was about 10 or 11, I was lining up to go back into the classroom and I suddenly realised that what I wanted to do with my life was just to climb. And that’s pretty much what I’ve

The Daily Telegraph’s August 1995 front page headline

done since then.” Hargreaves was criticised following her death in 1995, which came as she descended from the summit of K2, for “abandoning” her two children to pursue her passion for climbing.

It is thought that Hargreaves, 33, and six other climbers were swept to their deaths by 260mph winds.

Her death came three months after she became the first woman to make it to the summit of Everest alone, unsupported and without any artificial oxygen.

The same summer she climbed the six great north faces of the Alps.

But her son has consistently defended her right to continue climbing after she gave birth to him and his sister Kate.

Indeed, he credits her with instilling in him a similar love of adventure.

Before setting off for the first of the six Alpine climbs last December, he said: “I was with her during that period. Unconsciously that is where this scheme must have been born. Some of her energy and passion for this project must have been transferred to me.”

Ballard said he was surprised nobody had previously attempted to climb all six of the great north faces of the Alps alone, in winter.

“These days it’s very difficult to find things that haven’t been done before,” he said.

Ballard began his epic journey on December 21 last year, with his ascent of Cima Grande di Lavaredo, before going on to conquer Pizzo Badile three weeks later. Over

Tom Ballard, above, pictured right with his sister Kate and their late mother Alison Hargreaves, top, who died descending from K2

the following two months he climbed a further four peaks, culminating with the north face of the Eiger.

Ballard said on Saturday: “I’ve been very lucky with the conditions this year. There hasn’t been very much snow and there’s been strong winds to blow the fresh snow away.”

At one stage it looked as if Ballard might fail to complete all six of the planned climbs. His ascent of Petit Dru, in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps, was almost ruined when he failed to time his departure with the clear weather window. But on March 14 he was given another chance and seized this without hesitation.

From there he went on to Switzerland and the Eiger, a mountain he is said to know intimately, setting off on the last leg of his adventure on Thursday morning. His triumph is being described as one of the greatest achievements in recent mountaineering history.

The mountaineering blog, Planet Mountain, said: “Climbing just one of the six great north faces is an important undertaking. Doing all six of them, alone and in the same winter, implies having psychophysical capabilities that are well above the norm as well as possessing a deep love and respect for the mountains.”

Friends and supporters have paid tribute to Ballard’s achievement. Susan Huxtable, who taught the young Tom at Eyam Primary School, in Hope Valley, Derbyshire, said: “Congratulations — your mum would have been so proud.” Reflecting on his mother’s own pioneering achievements Ballard said there were still too few female climbers.

“You do see more women, especially compared to when my mum began climbing at 18. There’s more women but not that many more,” he said. “The world is chauvinist. I think it probably always will be, unfortunately.”

A few months after the death of Hargreaves, Ballard’s father Jim was criticised for risking his children’s lives after taking Tom and Kate to K2 on a pilgrimage to the mountain where she was killed.

Speaking about the tragedy Mr Ballard said: “How could I have stopped her?

“I loved Alison because she wanted to climb the highest peak her skills would allow her to. That’s who she was.”

In 2010, Ballard abandoned a solo expedition to climb the same K2 route which claimed his mother’s life, for reasons that were unexplained.