[powerpress]
In 1963, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld climbed a narrow gully on Everest’s North Face and barely survived the night.
Skiers have dreamed of descending that line ever since, and in 2002, snowboarder Marco Siffredi vanished trying.
Then, in October 2025, Jim Morrison clicked into his skis on the summit. Four hours later, he crossed the bergschrund at the bottom of the face, becoming the first person ever to ski the line.
Jim is a ski mountaineer, home builder, and the subject of Everest: The Other Side, the new film from Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi that chronicles the descent.
For Jim, the run was the summation of a lifetime in the mountains, a life also marked by unimaginable loss. Back in 2011, a tragic airplane accident took his wife and two young children and upended his life. Then, in 2022, on Manaslu, a snow shelf dislodged and swept away his life partner, the late Hilaree Nelson. In the wake of her passing, he committed to seeing through the Everest descent they had planned to do together.
The film is expertly rendered. It’s also difficult to watch. Jim lost his family, then Hilaree, and the film follows what it took for him to keep going.
Some may question the risk. But his why is deeper: making sense of what’s happened, reconciling his grief, and sharing what he’s discovered at the very edges of what’s possible. It’s not about learning to live without the people we lose. It’s about bringing them with you.
Topics include:
- Five Decades in the Making & the Team behind the Descent
- The No-Fall Zone & Turning Fear into Focus
- Pine Needles, Presence & Lessons from Eckhart Tolle
- Feeling His Children’s Presence at 28,500 Feet
- Hilaree, Motherhood & the Double Standard of Risk
- Quinn, Graydon & Watching Hilaree on Screen
- Post-Traumatic Stoke & the Achiever’s Dilemma
- Oprah, John Malkovich & Life on the Festival Circuit
For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Peace + Plants,
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- Connect with Jim: Instagram
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