
Hilaree Nelson, shown here in 2018, was found dead on Manaslu Wednesday morning. Photo: Nick Kalisz.
Iconic ski-mountaineer Hilaree Nelson (49) went missing on Monday after a fall near the 8,163m (26,781′) summit of Manaslu. Her body was located and retrieved Wednesday morning.
The Nepal English daily, The Himalayan Times reports Hilaree Nelson’s body was spotted from a helicopter and retrieved Wednesday morning from Manaslu’s south face.
This news was confirmed by The Everest Chronicle, which quotes a Nepali government representative as saying skis and clothes were spotted during Tuesday’s search via helicopter, but poor weather prevented further action. The search resumed Wednesday morning when Nelson’s remains were located and her body later retrieved. This same report in The Everest Chronicle writes, “Accordng to Sachindra Yadav, Liaison Officer posted at Makalu Base Camp, the rescuers found her body about 2,000 feet below the summit.”
Jason Albert comes to WildSnow from Bend, Oregon. After growing up on the East Coast, he migrated from Montana to Colorado and settled in Oregon. Simple pleasures are quiet and long days touring. His gray hair might stem from his first Grand Traverse in 2000 when rented leather boots and 210cm skis were not the speed weapons he had hoped for. Jason survived the transition from free-heel kool-aid drinker to faster and lighter (think AT), and safer, are better.
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Jim Morrison’s statement: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjDSPCWIvnB/
Thanks for linking to JM’s statement Charlie.
First encountered Hilaree Nelson when I started at Colorado College and her older CC gang put out their own ski movie called Misty Mountain Shop and distributed it across campus. She was the ski goddess among mortal bums in the flick. I was going to watch my copy tonight, which I probably haven’t viewed in almost two decades, when I realized I no longer have a VHS player. Darn it.
Condolences to her family, friends and especially her two sons. I almost did myself in by setting off an avalanche on a headwall above BP when my own son was just 6 months old. Only luck allowed me to walk away with “just” a compound fracture in my arm and a couple broken ribs. Obviously nowhere near the kind of exposure that Hilaree courted regularly amongst much bigger mountains. Glad I eventually learned to stay out of too much harm’s way….but I’ve also never stopped feeling the pull of adventure, mixed strangely with something akin to grace, that only the high winter alpine can deliver on a consistent basis. My wife thinks I’m a fool–or perhaps just callous, given what I put her through with the BP avy over a decade ago–for continuing to backcountry ski and admire someone like Hilaree from afar, even now after her tragic death. But I don’t see it that way. As a wise man once told me, “You got to live a little (or in Hilaree’s case A LOT) because long time dead.” RIP
Thanks for that anecdote and that movie sounds like a gem. Be well.
Ah the internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pipiw0uI-Bw
Going to check this out. Thanks for the digital mining.
When I met her, a while back, she seemed like the most level headed skier of big mountains I’d ever met. Thus, I’m incredibly sad as well as surprised. RIP
Reflecting on this after reading the “Hymalayan 7000m Speed Project”.
As an aspiring ski mountaineer noob and Himalayan old timer ( twice on the Big E, and O2-free attempts on several others), I found the news about Hilaree’s death sad but not unsurprising. When you keep pushing those limits and margins of error shrink from a variety of reasons, your number is likely to come up. Feel sad for her loved ones and family too. Another grim reminder that you can NOT come back from these seemingly self indulgent adventures sometimes. Namaste…