Congratulations to Jim Morrison, who has now gone down in history! In addition, he is the first person to ski down Mount Everest’s steepest line, the Hornbein Couloir. The legendary mountaineer pulled off this incredible 39th descent on the 15th of Oct, 2023, and took less than four hours to do it. This historic accomplishment took place at 7:45 p.m. local time, marking a significant milestone in the world of extreme skiing.
The Hornbein Couloir, seen raking the right side of this photo, is a narrow and steep gully. It’s located a little more than 1,100 feet below Everest’s peak, which looms at 29,032 feet. Fifty-year-old Jim Morrison has spent more than six weeks on the mountain training for this treacherous trek. Academy Award-winning filmmaker and fellow mountaineer Jimmy Chin accompanied him on the incredible journey. He captured the entire expedition on video in preparation for an upcoming National Geographic documentary.
As Morrison made his descent, the thoughts of his late partner overtook him. World-class ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson died in 2022 while making a ski descent on Mount Manaslu, Nepal. Yet, reflecting on this emotional connection, he admitted that nothing could compare to that heart-stopping moment when he finally reached the bottom.
“I was just really elated. Had a huge emotional release,” – Jim Morrison
Morrison reflected on the wide variety of feelings he underwent during his winning campaign. The excitement of the moment made for an awesome combination of screams and tears as he plowed through the new and scary landscape of the doing it!
“Screamed a lot and cried a lot, and it was really an amazing moment,” – Jim Morrison
On the climb down, Morrison said his climbing companions were especially relishing their accomplishment at the peak. At the same time, he turned attention to preparing for an equally difficult ski descent. In his testimony, he stressed the need to make risk management an operational priority for their industry.
“You have to try to decide what part of that fear is irrational. What part of it’s just going to make me scared and not do as good of a job? And what part of it can I channel to focus on what the real risks are?” – Jim Morrison
Chin provided inspiration by explaining how they tackle fear in extreme sports.
“I think in our business, you learn to leverage fear, because fear can either serve you or it can debilitate you. So, you really start to learn how to discern between fear that’s useful and fear that’s not useful,” – Jimmy Chin
The climb down involved serious concentration, since as Chin reminded us even a small lapse in attention could be fatal.
“You can’t make a single mistake — like a blown edge, or if you slip, you know — for 9,000 feet,” – Jimmy Chin
The duo prepared for three years prior to this attempt, each armed with over two decades of experience in the world of mountaineering.
“We trained for literally years… but we also have a lifetime of experience in the mountains, which this kind of route you can’t just train for,” – Jimmy Chin
