CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT “A fun day of alpine climbing in the Sierra Nevada with Jim Morrison and Hilaree in 2022 and a little sip of whiskey before walking down.” Photo: Christian Pondella “Shortly after beginning to date in 2016, Jim and Hilaree would begin to overlap in so many aspects of life. This was shot during a Protect Our Winters summit, back when Protect Our Winters had just grown from two people to four or five. Similar to Jim and Hil, POW has since grown a lot. Much of the success is attributed to people like Hilaree, who took her mes-sage to the United Nations and the U.S. Capitol (among other places). Her advocacy for our planet was just another example of her leadership.” Photo: Ming Poon “Hilaree prepares morning coffee while camped out in Baffin Island’s Kangiqtualuk Uqquqti. Blessed with good weather, we skied 3,000-foot cou-loirs almost every day we could until our legs gave out. Nine ski days and two rest days with Hilaree rallying the crew like the true captain she was.” Photo: Drew Smith Over the course of 40 expeditions in 23 years, Hilaree carefully curated the legend she was destined to become. She climbed Everest and then Lhotse inside of 24 hours simply because she had the energy and skills to do it; made a first ski descent of the Lhotse Couloir, a line coveted and tried by some of the best who came before her. She took two trips to Baffin Island that were full of pure exploration and new descents. Spent time in the Myanmar jungle and did an epic on Hkakabo Razi where she was forced to believe in herself even when some others did not. And she returned to Papsura in the Indian Himalaya for a clean-yet-terrifying first descent of the “Peak of Evil,” which she’d dreamed about for almost 20 years. 042 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 16, Issue 4: Page 42
