On Oct. 15, 2025, world-renowned mountaineer Jim Morrison entered the history books as he skied down the Hornbein Couloir, long considered the most elusive and challenging route in ski mountaineering. This record-breaking achievement will be featured in an upcoming National Geographic Documentary feature film which is currently in production with Oscar- and BAFTA-winning directors Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin.
From a previous SnowBrains article published on October 15:
After six and a half weeks on the mountain, Morrison reached the summit at 12:45 p.m. local time alongside 11 others, including Sherpas, fixers, and a film crew led by Jimmy Chin—the Academy Award–winning co-director of Free Solo. Chin and his partner Chai Vasarhelyi are producing a National Geographic documentary about the achievement. At the top, Morrison paused for a private moment to scatter the ashes of his late partner Hilaree Nelson, who died three years ago after a fall near the summit of Manaslu in Nepal. Nelson was one of the most distinguished female mountain athletes in history. “I had a little conversation with her and felt like I could dedicate the whole day to her,” he told National Geographic. Then, clipping into his skis, he began a four-hour descent down a 50° slope of ice and snow—dropping 12,000 vertical feet to the Rongbuk Glacier below.
The Hornbein Couloir is one of mountaineering’s most coveted and dangerous lines, first climbed in 1963 by Americans Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld. It is a narrow, steep gully that cuts directly down Everest’s North Face—a route so direct that climbers call it the “falling-water line.” Few have ever dared to climb it, and until now, none had skied it successfully. Morrison’s expedition was only the sixth ever to reach the top via the Hornbein Couloir and the first in more than 30 years to succeed.
This was Morrison’s third attempt to ski the line. In 2023, his team was delayed by Chinese permits and missed their summit window. The following year, he made it partway down before tragedy struck—Sherpa Yukta broke his femur in a small avalanche, forcing a dramatic rescue and ending the expedition.
For Morrison, finally completing the run was the culmination of a shared dream. He and Nelson, who together made some of the most daring descents in modern ski mountaineering, had planned to tackle Everest’s Hornbein Couloir in 2023 before her death. Nelson, named National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year in 2018, had been his partner in both life and the mountains. Their 2018 descent of the Lhotse Couloir—a sister peak of Everest—revived global interest in high-altitude skiing, which had waned amid the mountain’s growing commercialization and repeated disasters in the 2010s. For Morrison, returning to Everest was not only about pushing limits but also about healing. “This climb through life after loss is steep, but I’m still moving — carrying you with me and reaching toward the next beautiful chapters ahead,” Morrison shared on his Instagram account on the anniversary of her death.
- Related: Hilaree Nelson Confirmed Dead as Partner James Morrison Shares Detailed Account of What Happened
The Lake Tahoe–based skier is no stranger to loss. In 2011, his wife Katie and their two young children tragically died in a plane crash in California. Morrison says the teachings of philosopher Eckhart Tolle helped him survive that trauma and live in the present. “Nothing has ever happened in the past,” he once said, quoting Tolle. “You can’t change it.”
Away from the mountains, Morrison runs a high-end construction business in Lake Tahoe, building multimillion-dollar homes for Silicon Valley clients. Yet despite his success, he continues to live simply, often sleeping in a hypoxic tent to simulate high altitude.
