Everest North Face: Loss, Grief & Historic Descent

A mountaineer completed a historic ski descent of Mount Everest’s North Face, fueled by personal loss and a long-held dream. Jim Morrison summited the peak last October with filmmaker Jimmy Chin and a team of 12, then spent four hours skiing 9,000 feet down the treacherous face.

Everest’s North Face: A Mountaineering Holy Grail

Everest’s north side stretches 29,000 feet and is known for being darker and more exposed to the elements than other routes. “It is the holy grail of mountaineering,” said Chin, who had attempted the climb with Morrison on at least two previous occasions.

While the summit was a triumph, Morrison immediately began preparing for the descent. “My friends were up there celebrating and taking selfies… and that’s when I strapped into my skis and had the challenge of, okay, how am I gonna make this first turn?” Morrison said.

The ski down was fraught with danger. “We call it no fall zone, where you can’t make a single mistake,” Chin explained. “If you blow an edge or you lose your balance at all, you’re gone.” Morrison admitted to moments where he considered turning back, but ultimately persevered.

A Descent Honoring Loss

Morrison’s journey was deeply personal. He had shared the dream of skiing Everest with his partner, Hilaree Nelson, who died in 2022 while skiing in Nepal. “This was a shared project that we had worked on together and conceived together. And I felt determined to try to complete it,” Morrison said.

He also carried the weight of a previous tragedy, the loss of his wife and two children in a 2011 plane crash. Morrison hopes his story will inspire others. “I hope that people will walk away with a spring in their step and a renewed sense of confidence that they can go out and achieve their dreams,” he said.

Chin, an Academy Award winner, is creating a film documenting Morrison’s extraordinary journey, expected to be released later this year. “For the rest of us who have been on this journey with Jim, to see him execute at that level was extraordinary in itself,” Chin said. “But to see him come out the other side… it is the most significant ski descent that you can do on planet earth.”