KATHMANDU, NEPAL (AP) – The body of a famed United States (US) extreme skier who went missing this week after falling from the world’s eighth-highest mountain was recovered yesterday and transported to Nepal’s capital.
Hilaree Nelson, 49, was skiing down from the 8,163-metre summit of Mount Manaslu with her friend, Jim Morrison, on Monday when she fell off the mountain. Her body was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu where doctors planned to perform an autopsy.
Rescuers searching by helicopter located Nelson’s body yesterday after failing to find her on Tuesday and Monday, when bad weather hampered their search. Also on Monday, an avalanche at a lower elevation on the same mountain killed a Nepalese man and injured several other climbers.
Hundreds of climbers and their local guides were attempting to reach the summit during Nepal’s autumn climbing season.
Nelson, from Telluride, Colorado, and Morrison, from Tahoe, California, are extreme skiers who reached the summit of Mount Lhotse, the world’s fourth highest mountain, in 2018.
The Nepalese government has issued permits to 504 climbers during the autumn season.
Most are climbing Mount Manaslu.
