In 2012, she was the first woman to reach the summit of Everest in 24 hours. Hilaree Nelson, famous American mountaineer, disappeared on Mount Manaslu, Nepal, the day an avalanche killed a Nepalese climber, announced Tuesday, September 27, expedition organizers and officials. She had an accident as she began to ski down this Himalayan mountain.
On Monday, Hilaree Nelson had successfully climbed, with her companion Jim Morrison, the 8,163 meters of Manaslu, which makes this mountain the eighth highest in the world. “We are trying to shed light on what happened,” Jiban Ghimire, of Shangri-La Nepal Treks, who organized the expedition, told AFP. That same day, an avalanche hit Manaslu, killing a Nepalese climber and injuring a dozen people, according to the government’s tourism department.
The bad weather conditions – constant snow and rain – have been a challenge for the climbers engaged in the ascent of this peak. But also for the rescuers, who were unable to fly their helicopters to locate the victims. Jiban Ghimire assured that the conditions had improved on Tuesday, and that a helicopter was heading for the site of the accident where Hilaree Nelson disappeared.
The brand The North Face, which sponsors Hilaree Nelson, has confirmed her disappearance. “We are in contact with Hilaree’s family and are supporting search and rescue efforts in any way we can.”, the company said in an Instagram post on Tuesday. The 49-year-old mountaineer’s career spans two decades. She is described as “the most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation” by North Face.
“I have never felt more confident on Manaslu than during my past adventures in the tenuous atmosphere of the high Himalayas. The past few weeks have tested my resilience in unprecedented ways”she said Thursday, in an Instagram post.