Famed Extreme Skier From Colorado Dies After Falling Off Mountain

TELLURIDE, CO – The body of a U.S. extreme skier who went missing this week after falling from the world’s eighth-highest mountain was recovered Wednesday, The Gazette reported.

According to multiple outlets, Hilaree Nelson, 49, and her partner Jim Morrison were skiing down the 26,775-foot summit of Nepal’s Mount Manaslu on Monday when Nelson fell off the mountain. Sources cite Jiban Ghimire of the Kathmandu-based Shangri-La Nepal Trek, who “organized and outfitted the expedition,” for sharing information about the couple’s journey and Nelson’s fall.

Ghimire told Everest Chronicle that Nelson’s ski blade “skidded off” a few meters below the peak, potentially causing her to fall “up to 3,000 feet.”

Rescuers searched for two days in bad weather before the woman’s body was found, The Gazette reported.

According to the outlet, she was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, where doctors planned to perform an autopsy.

The Gazette stated that Nelson, from Telluride, Colorado, and Morrison, from Tahoe, California, are “extreme skiers who reached the summit of Mount Lhotse, the world’s fourth highest mountain, in 2018.”