Mountaineer Hilaree Nelson Died During Expedition in Nepal

U.S. ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson’s body was found Wednesday after she died during an expedition in Nepal, her partner Jim Morrison confirmed on social media. 

Morrison detailed in an Instagram post how the pair were skiing from Manaslu’s summit to rejoin their sherpa team when Nelson “started a small avalanche.” 

Nelson “was swept off her feet and carried down a narrow snow slope down the south side,” Morrison wrote. “I did everything I could to locate her but was unable to go down the face as I hoped to find her alive and live my life with her.” 

Over the last two days, he searched by helicopter, finding her body Wednesday. 

Nelson is also survived by her two children, and Morrison wrote, “My loss is indescribable and I am focused on her children and their steps forward.” He described Nelson as “my life partner, my love, my best friend and my mountain partner.”

Nelson documented parts of their journey on Manaslu, sharing six days ago how, “I haven’t felt as sure-footed on Manaslu as I have on past adventure into the thin atmosphere of the high Himalaya.” She highlighted the “constant monsoon with its incessant rain and humidity has made me hopelessly homesick.” 

She wrote, “These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways.”

Nelson was a trailblazer in the mountaineering world, becoming the first woman to climb both Everest and Lhotse in the span of 24 hours back in 2012. Fast forward a few years, she and Morrison reached the peak of the world’s fourth-highest mountain, Lhotse, in ’18. According to The North Face, for whom she was a sponsored athlete, Nelson’s career stretched over two decades and included “dozens of first descents through more than 40 expeditions to 16 different countries,” cementing herself as “the most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation.”

“For us, Hilaree transcended the idea of an athlete, a sport or a community,” The North Face wrote on Instagram. “She helped lead our family at The North Face, by being a teammate and team captain who changed our perspective of the outdoors by showing us exactly what it can mean. Her light will forever be an offering, and her optimism in the face of adversity, will forever be our guide.”