Jim Morrison, a 50-year-old American, summited Mount Everest on Oct. 15, and then skied the Everest Superdirect, connecting the Hornbein Couloir with the Japanese Couloir. This marks the first successful ski or snowboard descent of this route. The attempt carries a grim history, as snowboarder Marco Siffredi perished in 2002 during his effort, his body never recovered. Morrison’s achievement, announced by sponsor National Geographic, stands as a historic milestone in mountaineering.
The climbing team, including Morrison, consisted of 12 members, supported by a Sherpa team. Among them was Yukta Sherpa, who survived an avalanche during a 2024 attempt. Climber and filmmaker Jimmy Chin, 52, documented the expedition, while Topo Mena, 35, from Ecuador, and Tico Morales fixed ropes up the Hornbein Couloir. The group departed from camp 4 on the north face at 6 a.m. local time, reaching the summit by 12:45 p.m. “Only about five people have ever climbed the Japanese Couloir into the Hornbein, and we had 12 on the summit,” Morrison told National Geographic. At the summit, he scattered the ashes of his late partner, Hilaree Nelson, who died on Manaslu in 2022, fulfilling a promise to honour her with this descent.
Morrison began his ski descent shortly before 2 p.m., navigating the north face’s 3,650-metre vertical drop to the Rongbuk Glacier over four hours and five minutes. The team used fixed ropes for their descent, but Morrison skied, facing a 50-degree icy slope. “The conditions were abominable,” he said. A bare rock section in the couloir’s crux forced him to remove his skis and rappel 200 metres past oxygen canisters left by Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld in 1963 before resuming his ski. National Geographic reported that Morrison hop-turned and carved through the treacherous terrain.
The descent presented varied challenges, with some sections allowing smooth turns and others marred by sastrugi—frozen ridges up to four feet high, formed by fierce winds. “While some sections were smooth enough for real turns, others were rutted and raised four feet up and down, like frozen waves,” Morrison said. After a brief pause at camp 3, he continued, finding improved snow conditions lower down. Upon reaching the Rongbuk Glacier, Morrison broke down in tears. “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,” he said. National Geographic hailed the descent as “the most audacious ski run in history,” marking the first complete ski descent of Everest’s north side.
The Ski Line
