See the Stunning First Footage of Jim Morrison’s Unbelievable Mt. Everest Ski Descent

Earlier this month, news broke that skier and mountaineer Jim Morrison had completed the first successful ski descent of Mt. Everest’s foreboding Hornbein Couloir.

First climbed in 1963 by Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld, the narrow ribbon of snow slices down the peak’s north face. It’s long loomed large as an aspirational line for high altitude skiers, and was the place where French snowboarder Marco Siffredi famously disappeared in 2002.

On Mt. Everest, Morrison was joined by the filmmaker Jimmy Chin, known for his riveting account of Alex Honnold’s rope-free climb up Yosemite’s El Capitan in Free Solo. That meant, of course, we would eventually see cinema-quality footage of Morrison creeping down Mt. Everest’s north face on skis.

Now, thanks to a tease from National Geographic, we can watch some of those first frames, and they’re every bit as terrifying as you would expect. Tap or click below to watch.

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The short clip alludes to a larger, forthcoming project.

Chin, alongside his Free Solo co-director Chai Vasarhelyi, is working on a movie with National Geographic Documentary Films about the Mt. Everest descent that, according to a press release, “will examine Morrison’s obsessions, determination, and heartbreak as he pushes himself to the limit.”

Morrison dedicated his journey down the Hornbein Couloir to his late partner and fellow ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson, scattering her ashes atop Mt. Everest. Before she died in an avalanche on the flanks of Manaslu in 2022, Nelson and Morrison had planned to complete the Hornbein together. 

“I had a little conversation with her and felt like I could dedicate the whole day to her,” Morrison said of his descent, according to National Geographic.

Vasarhelyi and Chin’s film has the working title of Everest North. 

“Jim’s achievement is such an incredible moment,” said Vasarhelyi, “but the heart of the story we tell will show the years of dedication and sacrifice it took for him to make it to the top of the mountain.”

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