{{Short description|English mountaineer and painter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{infobox climber | image = Alison_Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz_on_Annapurna.jpg | caption = Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz on Annapurna between camps II and III. Photographed by Arlene Blum. | nationality = British | birth_date = 1942 | birth_place = Birmingham, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|10|17|1942|df=yes}} | death_place = Annapurna I Middle Peak, Nepal | typeofclimber = Mountaineering |firstascents=Gasherbrum III}}
'''Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz''' (1942 – 17 October 1978) was a British mountaineer, painter, and lithography lecturer. She made the first ascent of Gasherbrum III, at the time the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz died along with her climbing partner, Vera Watson, during an attempt on Annapurna I Central.
==Early life== Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz was born in Birmingham and grew up in Cornwall. She studied at Slade School of Fine Arts in London where she learned to climb.<ref name="im">{{Cite journal |last=Fowler |first=John |year=1979 |title=In Memoriam:Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz (1942–1978) |url=https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1979_files/AJ%201979%20265-271%20In%20Memoriam.pdf |publisher=Alpine Journal 1979| journal =Alpine Journal| issn = 0065-6569 |page=271 |access-date=4 May 2019}}</ref>
==Climbing career== Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz's early climbs were in Wales, England, and the Alps, making ascents of the north faces of Piz Palü, the Aiguille de Triolet, and {{ill|Les Courtes|fr}}. After moving to Poland with her husband and climbing partner Janusz Onyszkiewicz, she climbed extensively in the Tatras, including the eastern wall of Mnich, the northern wall of {{ill|Kazalnica Mięguszowiecka|pl}}, and a winter ascent of the northern wall of Niżnie Rysy and Mieguszowiecki Middle (first winter ascent).<ref name="aac">{{Cite web |last=Fowler |first=John |title=Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, 1942–4978 |url=http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197934700/print |website=publications.americanalpineclub.org |publisher=American Alpine Club |accessdate=16 May 2018}}</ref> She was known for her cool head and early commitment to alpine style mountaineering, which involves moving quickly and independently towards summits, at a time when large siege style expeditions were more common.<ref name="outsideonline">{{Cite web |last=Ives |first=Katie |date=11 April 2017 |title=An Oral History of the First U.S.—and Female—Ascent of Annapurna |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/2170021/annapurna-women |access-date=3 June 2019 |publisher=Outside Online}}</ref>
In 1972, during the Polish expedition in Hindu Kush, she ascended both Aspe Safed and Noshaq. Based on these climbs, she was selected for the 1975 Polish Gasherbrum Expedition. It was initially designed as a women's only expedition to Gasherbrum III led by Wanda Rutkiewicz, but a simultaneous men's expedition to Gasherbrum II was refused a permit and the two merged.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz |first1=Alison |last2=Alpinizmu |first2=Zwiazek |year=1977 |title=Gasherbrum II and III, 1975 |url=http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197703600/Gasherbrum-II-and-III-1975 |access-date=3 June 2019 |publisher=American Alpine Club}}</ref> She made the first ascent of Gasherbrum III (7952m), the world's highest unclimbed peak, with a mixed team consisting of her, Rutkiewicz, Onyszkiewicz, and {{ill|Krzysztof Zdzitowiecki|pl}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blum |first=Arlene |author-link=Arlene Blum |date=1982 |title=Women on Annapurna |url=https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/38/8/women-on-annapurna/ |access-date=3 June 2019 |website=www.himalayanclub.org |publisher=Himalayan Journal vol.38/8}}</ref> During this expedition she gained the British height record for women.<ref name="aac" />
Following the height record, she was elected to membership of the Alpine Club, one of the first women to be so.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wells |first=Colin |editor-last=Willett |editor-first=Maxine |title=Chadwick, Alison (died 1978) |url=https://www.mountain-heritage.org/entity.php?ID=134 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121122913/https://www.mountain-heritage.org/entity.php?ID=134 |archive-date=21 January 2019 |publisher=Mountain Heritage |accessdate=16 May 2018}}</ref>
Despite these successes, the achievements of women's climbing continued to be downplayed, with critics noting the presence and contributions of men on female-driven expeditions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scully |first=Lizzy |date=16 January 2017 |title=In the Footsteps of Fanny: Women in the Karakoram |url=https://www.climbing.com/news/in-the-footsteps-of-fanny-women-in-the-karakoram/ |access-date=3 June 2019}}</ref>
===Annapurna=== {{Main|American Women's Himalayan Expedition}} In 1978, she took part in the ''American Women's Himalayan Expedition'' to Annapurna, the tenth-highest mountain in the world. It consisted of all female climbers, designed to give women the opportunity to climb a major peak at a time when they were often excluded from expeditions.<ref name="aacVK">{{Cite web |last=Komarkova |first=Vera |author-link=Vera Komarkova |year=1979 |title=American Women's Himalayan Expedition, Annapurna 1 |url=http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197904500/American-Womens-Himalayan-Expedition-Annapurna-1 |publisher=American Alpine Club |accessdate=16 May 2018}}</ref> Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz was one of the few non-Americans and was considered one of the best climbers. Annapurna had very few ascents at the time, and the climbers found it to be more treacherous than anticipated, with multiple avalanches causing severe delays in their progress. It is now considered the world's most deadly mountain, with the highest death rate of any 8000er.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carpenter |first=Hayden |date=28 July 2015 |title=New Route and Deaths on Annapurna – World's Deadliest Mountain |url=https://rockandice.com/climbing-news/new-route-and-deaths-on-annapurna-worlds-deadliest-mountain/ |access-date=3 June 2019 |publisher=Rock and Ice}}</ref> During the expedition Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz noted, "It's the most dangerous mountain I've been on," in a letter to her husband.<ref name="im" /><ref name="ind">{{Cite news |last=Goodwin |first=Stephen |date=15 June 2005 |title=Vera Komarkova Obituary |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/vera-komarkova-494148.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517010924/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/vera-komarkova-494148.html |archive-date=2018-05-17 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |accessdate=16 May 2018}}</ref>
The expedition was successful, with Vera Komarkova, Irene Beardsley (formerly Miller), Mingma Tsering Sherpa, and Chewang Ringjin Sherpa reaching the summit. However, Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz was keen for a female-only team to succeed, so she and climbing partner Vera Watson made a second summit push to the unclimbed second peak.<ref name=ind/> Since many of the climbers had already descended due to frostbite and sickness or were too exhausted, they departed Camp III for the summit alone and with very little support in the upper camps.<ref name=outsideonline/>
They missed a scheduled radio call that night, but others in the expedition were tired and unable to mount a rescue. Three days later Mingma and Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa found their bodies next to a crevasse below Camp IV. It was speculated that they fell on an ice slope near camp V, perhaps due to an avalanche or rockfall.<ref name="aac" /><ref name=aacVK/><ref name=outsideonline/>
A memorial fund, administered by the Mount Everest Foundation, was created in her memory. Its aim is "to provide grants to further British and Polish women's mountaineering in the world's greater ranges, i.e.: further afield than the Alps".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ruthven |first=Bill |date=30 April 2008 |title=Alison Chadwick award for women |url=https://www.thebmc.co.uk/alison-chadwick-award-for-women |publisher=The British Mountaineering Council |accessdate=16 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = The Alison Chadwick Memorial Grant | website =MEF – Mount Everest Foundation| access-date = 18 August 2024 |url = https://www.mef.org.uk/information/the-alison-chadwick-memorial-grant }}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1971 Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz married Polish mathematician and mountaineer Janusz Onyszkiewicz, her frequent climbing partner.<ref name="im" />
==Notable climbs== * Mięguszowiecki Middle (first winter ascent) * Gasherbrum III (first ascent) * Noshaq, Hindu Kush
==References== <references />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, Alison}} Category:1942 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Category:Painters from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:20th-century English painters Category:English mountain climbers Category:British female climbers Category:Mountaineering deaths in Nepal Category:20th-century English women painters Category:Deaths on Annapurna