Mountaineer Hilaree Nelson found dead on the slopes of Mount Manaslu in the Himalayas

The mountain will have been almost all his life, and the place of his death. The body of American mountaineer Hilaree Neslon was discovered in the Himalayas on Wednesday, September 28, two days after she disappeared on the slopes of Mount Manaslu, Nepal. “The search team which left this morning by helicopter has spotted his body and is bringing it back”, said Jiban Ghimire, a member of Shangri-La Nepal Trek, which organized the expedition, on Wednesday (September 28th). Mr Ghimire said the body had been brought back to base camp and would be flown to Kathmandu.

Hilaree Nelson, 49, began the descent on skis of this Himalayan mountain after successfully climbing the 8,163-meter Manaslu mountain with her companion, Jim Morrison, on Monday, which makes this mountain the eighth highest in the world. . “She had an accident on Monday as she descended, shortly after her ascent”, said Jiban Ghimire. That same day, an avalanche hit Manaslu, killing a Nepalese climber and injuring a dozen people, according to the government’s tourism department.

“Jim and other people went on an aerial search to find her. It is difficult to land or take off in the area”, the organizer first said as the search resumed on Wednesday. The day before, the relief had returned empty-handed, while Monday the helicopters had not been able to take off.

Dangerous conditions

In a post on Instagram last week, the mountaineer said that the ascent had been particularly difficult due to the “relentless rain” and hazardous conditions. The very day of his disappearance, an avalanche occurred between camps 3 and 4 of Manaslu, killing a Nepalese mountaineer and injuring a dozen people, according to the Nepalese ministry of tourism.

The career of Hilaree Nelson, described by her sponsor The North Face as “the most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation”, spanning two decades. In 2012, she was the first woman to reach the summit of Everest, the highest mountain in the world, and the neighboring summit of Lhotse in twenty-four hours. In 2018, she returned to Lhotse and made the first ski descent of this mountain, which earned her the National Geographic award for adventurer of the year.

The World with AFP

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