TOP TO BOTTOM Hilaree was no stranger to full-value adventure skiing in California’s Sierra Nevada, ascending ice and snow with a few mandatory rappels for this 2018 descent. Photo: Christian Pondella “Hilaree taking in the power of Yosemite and Vernal Fall in 2016. We had just hiked an in-credible loop around waterfalls, rainbows and towering granite walls in Yosemite, speaking about everything from love to loss, kids, adven-tures and dreams. She was going through a divorce while falling in love and battling the ever-balancing act between work and family. She was humble, vulnerable, friendly, soft, yet strong and caring. I’d learn over the years these qualities ran through her to her core. We’d become good friends, she’d fall in love with Jim and spend lots of time in Tahoe. She is dearly missed and I’ll cherish these memories and aspire to her level of excellence as a friend, parent and leader.” Photo: Ming Poon Hilaree was a mighty woman and carried goddess power inside her. She was quick to say that India was her favorite place and I think that, beyond the wild colors she so loved in that culture and, of course, the mountains, she must also have known that she embodied the highest Hindu goddesses. She held Durga, the goddess of strength and peaceful courage, with her fearlessness beyond most mortals. She found appreciation not only for high peaks, but also for a new pair of jeans or the beauty of wildflowers beneath her feet, just like Lakshmi, the goddess of pleasure, abundance and gratitude. She had love around her and held the deepest of it for her children, Quinn and Grayden. She was Parvati, nurturing and benevolent. She had wisdom with no end. Her con-sciousness and drive for what she knew to be right uplifted all those around her. She was Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge. Deities are divine energies split into male and female. Nothing can exist without the complement of these two forces. It is a sacred pairing, which Hilaree embodied and then transcended. Nothing could put her into a category, the way we mortals enjoy defining ourselves and each other. Her spirit seemed to have no option but to defy compartmentalization. Hilaree Nelson 041
The Ski Journal Volume 16, Issue 4: Page 41
