Female artist capturing head of plucky Asian mountaineer (6)
I believe the answer is:
sherpa
'asian mountaineer' is the definition.
(Himalayan mountain guide)
'female artist capturing head of plucky' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'she' ('she' refers to a woman).
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'capturing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'head of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'plucky' is 'p'.
'ra' going around 'p' is 'rpa'.
'she'+'rpa'='SHERPA'
(Other definitions for sherpa that I've seen before include "Nepal, Tibet native" , "Skilled Tibetan mountaineer" , "Himalayan mountain guide" , "Mountain people from Nepal and Tibet" , "Himalayan - phrase (anag)" .)