Hilaree Nelson: Trailblazing US Ski Mountaineer

Kathmandu, Sept 28 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Sep, 2022 ) :Top US ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson, whose body was recovered Wednesday after an accident in the Nepali Himalayas, was a trailblazing adventurer who conquered peaks and smashed sporting records.

Nelson, 49, was regarded as one of the world's most talented ski mountaineers and had been involved in dozens of expeditions around the world.

A decade ago, she became the first woman to summit both the highest mountain in the world, Everest, and the adjacent Lhotse peak within the span of 24 hours.

Her accomplishments earned her the prestigious National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award in 2018, but it was a yearning for adventure rather than recognition that guided her career.

"I've always had this crazy fear, my whole life, of having every day be the same," she said in an interview to Outside Magazine three years ago.

"And if I dig really deep, that's my motivation, to get outside, to train, to be in my sport, and to forever continue learning." Nelson began skiing as a child at Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains, close to her Seattle home, in competition with her siblings.

After college, she travelled on a one-way ticket to Chamonix in France, staying there to hone her skiing and climbing skills for five years.

As a climber, her exploits were chronicled in an award-winning documentary that followed an attempt at the first human summit of the treacherous Hkakabo Razi peak in northern Myanmar -- an expedition she led in 2014.

Nelson made the first ski descent of India's Papsura peak, along with her partner Jim Morrison, in 2017. The same year, Men's Journal named her one of the most adventurous women of the past 25 years.

Then in 2018, she returned to Lhotse and made the first ski descent of the mountain.

Nelson lived in Colorado and when not travelling abroad she went biking, hiking and rock climbing with her two sons.

She reached the summit of Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest peak, on Monday but slipped and disappeared as she was skiing down its slope.

Morrison, who had accompanied Nelson, led the search operations that located her body on Wednesday, after bad weather hampered earlier rescue efforts.

In an Instagram post last week, Nelson said her final climb had been deeply challenging because of "incessant rain" and dangerous conditions.

"I haven't felt as sure-footed on Manaslu as I have on past adventure into the thin atmosphere of the high Himalaya," Nelson wrote in a post on Thursday.

"These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways." - 'An inspiration' - "It brings tears to my eyes, but she died doing what she loved," said Billi Bierling, a climber who also manages the Himalayan Database that records summits in Nepal.

"She was such an inspiration, so strong. She achieved amazing feats but she was also so humble." Nelson captained The North Face Athlete Team and is described as "the most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation" by the company.

She is also known for sharing her adventures on stages as a speaker.

In a 2018 video, she spoke about mentoring and making space for women adventurers.

"I've realised through my experiences and the stories I can tell, I can be a role model myself and be inspirational for other people to live life a little differently," she said.