Kit DesLauriers has become the first woman to ski off the summit of Mount Everest, but was not able to make an all-snow all-ski complete descent to match that of Davo Karnikar in 2000. According to the expedition report, “the complete ski descent was shelved in favor of safety.” Nonetheless, while descending much of the upper mountain on foot, Kit and companions made a skilled and bold descent that included skiing the monster Lhotse face in dangerous icy conditions.
Davo Karnikar skied through the Hillary Step during his first descent and was able to ski the mountain in its entirety, but it is tough to find the upper part of Everest in skiable condition and DesLauriers had to rappell the step, as well as travel on foot for quite some distance after the Step.
WildSnow congratulates these guys on an excellent Mount Everest ski expedition. Back alive is what makes it good, so job well done! More, Kit is now the first person to have skied off all Seven Summits. A toast to her!
Full details at guide service website.
Mount Everest news website
(This post updated December, 2006)
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
