“It’s super steep and unrelenting from top to bottom, and it runs through this tiny, aesthetic couloir. It’s more than a mile long and just massive, dark, and beautiful in scale.”
Before Morrison’s groundbreaking achievement, the Hornbein Couloir was considered one of the last great lines to elude ski mountaineers. Previous attempts to ski or snowboard along the Hornbein Couloir ended tragically, with injuries and fatalities.
“I’m ecstatic. I’m exhausted. I’m just super emotional—really psyched to be down and done with this epic mission and so proud of my team,” Morrison said. “So fired up that we pulled it off.”
Jim Morrison at ABC camp on the North Face of Everest, September 24, 2024. Morrison is a celebrated ski mountaineer known for landmark achievements including the first ski descent of Lhotse (2018), which earned him the title of National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.
Savannah Cummins, National Geographic
The weather was “sunny all day with a few clouds down low. Almost no wind,” he added. “A perfect Himalayan day to go to the top of the world.”
Morrison dedicated the day to his late partner, National Geographic Explorer Hilaree Nelson, who died three years ago in a fall from Manaslu, the world’s eighth-highest mountain peak. ““When I finally crossed the bergschrund, I cried,” Morrison told National Geographic. “I’d risked so much, but I was alive. It felt like a tribute to Hilaree—something she’d be proud of. I really felt her with me, cheering me on.”