On September 26, 2022, American ski-mountaineer, Hilaree Nelson and her life partner Jim Morrison reached the true summit of Manaslu, the eight highest mountain in the world, in tough conditions. Upon reaching the summit, they quickly transitioned from climbing to skiing in cold and wind with a plan to ski around the corner and regroup with their Sherpa team.
Morrison skied first, and after a few turns, Nelson followed and triggered a small avalanche. She was swept off her feet and carried down a narrow snow slope down the south side. She fell 5,000 feet down the south slope of the mountain. Morrison did everything he could to locate her but was unable to go down the face as he hoped to find her alive and live his life with her.
After determining there was nothing he could do to help her, he descended, making it to base camp safely. Two days later, her body was found and retrieved from the mountain’s south face. Rescuers found her body at about 6,200 feet from the summit. The helicopter dropped Jim Morrison and two high-altitude Sherpa guides near the location.
They found Nelson’s body about 50 meters from the landing site. Earlier, aerial searchers had seen a ski and some clothes during their reconnaissance flight, but worsening weather prevented them from completing the task. The helicopter took off as soon as the weather cleared and flew directly back to the same area on the south side of the mountain.
It took searchers an hour and a half to dig out Nelson’s body that was buried half in the snow. It was badly damaged. The helicopter then returned to base camp and flew her body to Kathmandu. A postmortem was conducted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Her body was cremated on October 2, 2022 in a Buddhist ceremony in Kathmandu.
This is her story.
#hilareenelson #skimountaineering #manaslu
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19 май 2023
