Standing at the top of the world at the summit of Mount Everest, Jim Morrison was surrounded by some of the highest mountains on Earth. Below him, the deep gully of the Hornbein Couloir split the imposing and staggeringly steep North Face in two. But he barely had time to take in the view. At 29,032 feet, Morrison was in the area known as the “death zone” — so named because there is so little oxygen that the human body cannot sustain itself unaided for long periods, not to mention the risk from avalanches and rockfalls. Plus, he was only partway through his gruelling expedition. Most mountaineers could only ever dream of climbing up the mountain, but Morrison had set himself the audacious task of skiing down the Hornbein Couloir. Described by Morrison as “the greatest ski line on our planet,” the narrow, mile-long chute at a 50-degree slope is infamous for its unrelentingly steep and icy sections. It is a “no-fall zone” — meaning any wrong move would be fatal. “I felt anxiety. I felt fear. I felt stress. I felt cold. I felt tired, but I also felt really aware of what was going on around me, and really in the moment,” he explained. “I got laser-focused on what was just right in front of me … This was my one chance to do my best at what I’ve worked for so long, and I’m here, and it’s now. I felt a tremendous sense of opportunity in front of me, and I wanted to make the most of it,” he said. ‘Unrelenting and direct’ Morrison has endured more tragedy in his lifetime than most, having lost his wife Katie and their two young children, Hannah and Wyatt, in an airplane crash in 2011. Years later, he found a kindred spirit in his new life partner, Hilaree Nelson, a ski mountaineer who had made first descents across more than 40 expeditions worldwide. In 2018, Morrison and Nelson became the first people to ski down from the summit of Lhotse — which, at 8,516 metres (27,940 feet), is the fourth-highest mountain in the world. They then set themselves another audacious goal: to be the first people to ski down the North Face of Everest. “The North Face of Everest holds, in my opinion, the greatest ski line on our planet. It’s this couloir that splits the big North Face. “It’s unrelenting. It’s direct. It’s 9,000 feet long. It’s super steep, super hard, and super high altitude,” Morrison explained. “It became a goal of ours — Hilaree’s and mine together — to go climb and ski this because that’s just who we are. “We’re passionate … ski mountaineers. The best way to describe ‘why’ would be: I knew I could do it.” While training for this imposing feat, tragedy struck again. In 2022, while the couple were descending Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world (26,781 feet), Nelson was swept away by a small avalanche. Morrison dug her body out of the snow two days later. Nelson’s death, and the grief and doubt that followed in Morrison’s personal and professional life, was devastating. “Over and over, I thought, ‘I don’t know if I want to keep going or keep doing this,’” Morrison explained. “For a long time, I didn’t know if I would ever go into the mountains and ski again.” Gradually, through reconnecting with the natural world, Morrison began to revisit what had been his and Nelson’s shared dream of skiing down the tallest mountain on Earth. “I started to go outside with my dog and go for walks. He wanted to take me further afield, and I really enjoyed being in these raw and natural landscapes by myself, walking in the snow. Everest was just there in the back.” ‘One foot in front of the other’ Together with Oscar-winning film directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Morrison hatched a plan to attempt the peak, ski down and capture the effort on film. “I felt determined to try to achieve this goal, to keep honoring her legacy, finish this project that we’d started together, celebrate who she was, and keep her story alive,” he explained. “I had lots of moments of doubt, like we all do in life. Eventually, I just picked myself up and said, ‘I’m going to keep going. I’m going to put one foot in front of the other, and I’m going to keep trying.’” As with all major challenges, Morrison describes a “tremendous number of hurdles and roadblocks along the way” to the top of Everest, managing the feat after several years and two failed attempts. He scattered Nelson’s ashes at the summit of the peak. “When I stepped onto the summit and looked off into Nepal, I just had this incredible sense of satisfaction and pride for my team, and pride for everyone who had helped me achieve this goal. “But at the same moment, I saw these mountains that I climbed and skied with Hilaree — Makalu and Lhotse right there, two other 8,000-metre peaks that I’d spent big portions of time on with her — and I just had this profound sense of her energy and her spirit there with me.” The 12,000-vertical-foot descent back to camp on the Rongbuk Glacier took four hours and five minutes, with Morrison completely absorbed in digging his skis into the impossibly steep snowpack to make the tiny, precise turns needed to survive. With each turn, the crunch and release of frozen snow and the rasp of his labored breathing were the only signs of life for miles. “If I get out of control for half of a second, I won’t be able to recover, and I’m gonna fall to the very bottom,” Morrison explained in the documentary. Over 650 feet of steep bare rock, Morrison was forced to remove his skis and rappel down in ski boots without crampons, clambering over exposed sections of the couloir. Although the prospect of death was never far away, Morrison said he felt at ease throughout the feat. “If I lose an edge, or slip, I’m just gonna relax. I’ve lived a full life,” he continued. ‘I cried. I screamed’ After hours of intense focus, pushing himself to the limit of his abilities, Morrison finally cleared the bergschrund crevasse that marked the foot of the glacier and skied down to a camp where his jubilant team were waiting. “When I crossed the bergschrund at the bottom and I skied out onto safe terrain, I looked back up at the whole mountain. I could see 9,000 vertical feet,” he told CNN in a previous interview. “I thought about Hilaree. I cried. I screamed,” he said. “I couldn’t understand how I could still stand up. I felt like I was going to collapse because it was just such an emotional release,” he added. Even in achieving these monumental goals, Morrison still carries his loss. “I’ve come to understand that I’m not moving past that trauma or that grief. I’m not moving away from it. I’m moving forward with it, and I’m carrying them with me. “Even though I’m tired and I want to quit, I often sort of channel their energy, and I think about them. I think about how they would be proud of me if I could go a step farther. I’ve really just used the thought of my loved ones that I’ve lost to help me keep going and help me go that extra mile.” “Everest: The Other Side” is in theaters and IMAX.
