Body of Hilaree Nelson recovered from Manaslu

The body of pioneering ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson was located on Manaslu by her partner Jim Morrison and a rescue team on Wednesday morning.

Nelson was reported missing on Monday after she, along with Morrison, summited the eighth highest mountain in what Morrison described as ‘tough conditions’. Initial reports suggested that she had fallen into a crevasse whilst descending from the summit on skis. Morrison confirmed yesterday that Nelson had been swept off her feet and carried down a narrow snow slope by a small avalanche that was triggered as she followed him down the mountain.

Rescue efforts were initially hampered by bad weather, but Morrison and Mingma Tenzi Sherpa were dropped off by helicopter yesterday morning and Nelson’s body was found at around 6,700m on the south face of the 8,163m peak.

During her career, Nelson was a member of over 40 expeditions to 16 different countries and completed multiple first ski descents on Baffin and South Georgia Islands, Argentina, Kamchatka, Russia, and the Tetons. In 2012, Nelson became the first woman to summit both Everest and Lhotse within 24 hours, made the first female descent of Makalu Couloir in 2015, and in 2018 was awarded the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award for the first ski descent of the Lhotse Couloir, accompanied by Morrison. That same year, the North Face named her the captain of its athlete team.