Early October: Backcountry Skiing/Ski Mountaineering News

There’s no tapping the breaks as we zip into October. The news remains cautionary, with a spicy ski descent to round it all out. 

Let’s begin with Everest. 

The TNF Everest Project

This not so underground, yet remarkably quiet ski expedition, the Everest Ski Project, (at least that’s what we are referring to this project), has pivoted and called the expedition off for the season. In short, American ski mountaineer Jim Morrison aims to be the first to ski Everst’s Hornbein Couloir. 

The Himalayan Times reported on Oct. 6th that the team and a group of Sherpas had made progress. “According to sources at the base camp, a team of rope fixing Sherpa climbers has been returning to the base camp wrapping up their plan to fix a route above Camp III,” states the article in the Himalayan Times.

We’ll interpret the pivot to the ski descent route being out of condition.

For context, this is the second year the group has situated themselves on the North side of Everest—administered by the Chinese— to position themselves to attempt the line. Last season, in 2023, the group was stymied by permitting/visa issues.

The project intends to document the ascent/descent. Jimmy Chin and Jackson, Wyoming’s Mark Fisher, are two well-known videographers assisting in that effort.

On his site, “Adventure Mountain,” journalist Stefan Nestler writes this about ski attempts on Everest’s North side. 

“Skiing attempts on the north side can be counted on one hand. In 1996, South Tyrolean Hans Kammerlander succeeded in descending from the summit via the northeast flank and the North Col to the Advance Base Camp on the Eastern Rongbuk Glacier.