Can't wait for the GoPro footage... From NBC News:
Americans ski down world's 4th-highest mountain
Two American climbers have successfully skied down from the summit of the world's fourth-highest mountain, organizers said Monday.
James Morrison of Tahoe, California, and Hilaree Nelson of Telluride, Colorado, scaled Mount Lhotse's 27,940-foot summit on Sunday with two other climbers and three Nepalese Sherpa guides, said Pemba Sherpa of Xtreme Climbers Treks and Expeditions.
Morrison and Nelson then descended down the mountain on their skis.
Outside Magazine had a nice article on their plans two weeks ago:
Hilaree Nelson's Bold Attempt to Ski the Lhotse Couloir
In August, American ski mountaineers Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison flew to Nepal from their homes in Telluride, Colorado, and Tahoe City, California, respectively, to attempt the first ski descent of 27,940-foot Lhotse. Part of the Everest massif, Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain in the world. From a skier’s perspective, though, Lhotse is first choice. The summit offers a sustained and direct 7,000-vertical-foot ski line that combines a 2,500-foot couloir and an open face. The average pitch is 45 to 50 degrees. For comparison, the steepest in-bounds black diamond runs in the U.S. top out at about 30 degrees.
“It is this iconic, splinter couloir and it just screams ski line to me,” Morrison told me earlier this summer. “It’s this plum line right off the summit, right down the middle onto this huge face that goes way down. And it’s never been done.”
Until this summer, of the five tallest mountains in the world, Mount Everest was the only one to have been skied successfully from the summit. Then, in July, a Polish alpinist named Andrezj Bargiel skied off the summit of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.
Ho Li Crap - talk about nerves of steel. Again, the video footage will be amazing. Looking forward to seeing it. Congratulations to the whole team!
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