On the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest, several members of the team led by American ski mountaineer Jim Morrison have apparently reached the summit at 8,849 meters today. This was reported by the Nepalese internet portal “The Tourism Times,” citing sources close to the expedition. The mountaineers climbed through the Hornbein Couloir, it said. There is no other source for this information as yet.
According to this information, Morrison planned to ski down from the highest point through the couloir on the North Face of Everest. With his project, he wanted to commemorate his partner Hilaree Nelson, who fell to her death in fall 2022 while attempting a joint descent from the summit of Manaslu, according to The Tourism Times. It is not yet known whether Morrison was able to carry out his plan.
In 2024, Irvine’s shoe found
According to previously published information on the portal, Morrison and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Jimmy Chin were supported by six mountain guides on their summit attempt. Last year, difficult conditions on the mountain halted the project at an altitude of around 7,500 meters.
During the expedition, Chin and other team members discovered human remains on the Central Rongbuk Glacier at the foot of Mount Everest’s North Face. The remains belonged to British mountaineer Andrew Irvine, who had been missing since 1924. They found an old shoe with a foot inside it, and the sock around the foot had a red label with the inscription A.C. IRVINE.
Pioneering achievement by Hans Kammerlander
The attempts to ski down the north face can be counted on one hand. In 1996, South Tyrolean Hans Kammerlander succeeded in a ski descent from the summit via the northeast flank and the North Col to the Advanced Base Camp on the East Rongbuk Glacier after climbing without bottled oxygen and without a Sherpa guide. However, he had to take off his skis in some places due to lack of snow.
This was also the case in 2006 for Swedes Olof Sundstron and Martin Letzer, who also descended on skis via the Northeast Ridge, as well as for Norwegians Tormod Granheim and Tomas Olsson, who chose the Norton Couloir. Olsson fell to his death from 8,500 meters.
Marco Siffredi died while attempting to snowboard down the Hornbein Couloir
The only attempt to ski down the Hornbein Couloir failed in 1996 during the ascent: Swiss climbers Jean Troillet and Dominique Perret climbed the North Face in alpine style, but only reached an altitude of 8,400 meters. From there, Perret skied and Troillet snowboarded down to the Central Rongbuk Glacier.
In 2002, Frenchman Marco Siffredi paid for his snowboard attempt from the summit through the Hornbein Couloir with his life. His trail was lost at around 8,500 meters. The body of the then 23-year-old – who had snowboarded through the Norton Couloir to the Advanced Base Camp a year earlier – has not been found to this day.
Update 10:30 p.m.: According to National Geographic, Jim Morrison skied down from the summit through the North face of Everest to the Central Rongbuk Glacier- via the so-called “Supercouloir”: first through the Hornbein Couloir in the upper part of the wall, then through the Japanese Couloir in the lower part. No one had ever done this before. More on this here tomorrow, Thursday.
