Hilaree Nelson

About

Mountaineer and skier known for being the first woman to summit two 8000-meter peaks in a 24-hour period on May 25, 2012 by climbing both Everest and Lhotse, and for making the first ski descent of the Dream Line from the summit of Mt. Lhotse to the bottom of it in 2018. She died on September 26, 2022 after an avalanche knocked her off the top of the summit of Manaslu in Nepal.

Before Fame

She began skiing at Stevens Pass in Washington State when she was three years old. She attended Colorado College before moving to France where she learned how to technical climb. She became very skilled in it. She landed a sponsorship with The North Face in the year 1999 which jumpstarted her professional climbing career. 

Trivia

Men's Journal named her one of the "25 Most Adventurous Women of the Past 25 Years." She was also named one of National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year in 2018. She was the team captain for The North Face's global athletic team. She was also a member of over 40 mountaineering expeditions. 

Family Life

She was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. She had two sons named Grayden and Quinn. She dated her climbing partner and life partner Jim Morrison for many years before her death. He was with her when she died.  

Associated With

She replaced Conrad Anker as the North Face global athlete team captain. Ingrid Backstrom wrote a tribute to her on Instagram after her death.