[6] After leaving home at 18, she lived with and later married Jim Ballard, and in 1995 the family moved to Spean Bridge, in the Scottish Highlands, closer to conditions suitable for her training.

The spring and summer weather were particularly bad that year, and she was forced to use alternative routes for the Grandes Jorasses and the Eiger.

In order to settle things, Hargreaves solo climbed the Croz spur on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses the following winter.

[14] Canadian Jeff Lakes, who had turned back below the summit earlier, managed to reach one of the lower camps but died from the effects of exposure.

[2][5] The next day, two Spanish climbers, Pepe Garces and Lorenzo Ortas, who had survived the storm at Camp 4, were descending the mountain while suffering from frostbite and exhaustion.

After the incident, Captain Fawad Khan, the Pakistani army officer who was the team's intermediary with the rescue services, claimed that he had urged her not to climb beyond base camp because it would be "suicidal" in the deteriorating weather conditions.