A search party in Nepal has recovered the body of famed American climber Hillaree Nelson near the summit of Manaslu in the Himalayas.
Nelson, 49, went missing while descending the world’s eighth highest mountain with his partner.
On Wednesday, rescuers found the body on the south wall of the 8,163-meter peak. Earlier reports said she had fallen into a glacier crevasse.
Nelson was considered one of the best climbers of her generation.
In 2018, along with her partner Jim Morrison, she became the first person to ski down Mount Lhotse in Nepal, the fourth highest peak in the world.
She is also the first woman to climb both the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, and neighboring Lhotse, within 24 hours.
Morrison and three Sherpa guides descended by helicopter from the summit of Manaslu about 6,000 meters on Wednesday morning to retrieve Nelson’s body, the expedition organizers said.
“The bodies have been taken to the base camp. After the necessary legal formalities are completed, they will be airlifted to Kathmandu,” Shangri-La Nepal said. The Post reports.
Previous helicopter searches have been hampered by bad weather and failed.
On the same day Nelson disappeared, an avalanche occurred further down the same peak, killing one person and injuring a dozen others.
Witnesses said he fell into a deep crevasse in the ice just 15 minutes after reaching Manaslu.
A local guide who traveled with them told Outside magazine that other climbers who were with them “disengaged her ski blades and [she] fell on the other side of the summit. ” was reported.
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