The determination that Hilaree, Jim, and the amazing crew had throughout the #Lhotse expedition not only made this miracle in Nepal happen but also made it particularly memorable.
Tomorrow is the 2-year anniversary of their Lhotse summit and ski descent. To celebrate this amazing achievement ROAM is hosting a Q&A with Hilaree and Jim as they look back on the fond memories that Lhotse brings.
We hope you’ll join us at 4:00pm MST September 30th
The Summit
It took about 12 hours to get to the top. The summit was SO incredible, and we were the only people on the mountain. I don’t even know where to begin in explaining how surreal it was. I couldn’t stop looking at Everest either. It’s entirely possible that Everest is more incredible to look at from the summit of Lhotse than it is to stand atop. Despite the bad rap this peak gets in the public arena, I think it’s the most aesthetic and beautiful mountain on the planet.
While this was an insane amount of hard work, every little thing needed to go just right and, sometimes, those things came from unexpected places. At the end of the day, it paid off and we skied one of the most amazing lines of my life.
The Skiing
The ski was incredible. Really hard, but just incredible. The most difficult part was the Couloir itself. The conditions were all over the map- ice, windslab, breakable crust, recycled powder, etc. but, let’s be honest, trying to ski from above 8000 meters, one really has to temper expectations.
The further down we got, the more in the groove we were and we could start to link more and more turns. Once out on the Lhotse face, we had way more consistent conditions. This was where both Jim and I actually started smiling and laughing.
We joined with the sherpas for a celebratory shot of our coveted whiskey, high five’d and all stumbled off to our sleeping bags.
Mission accomplished!