Hilaree Nelson
Telluride local Hilaree Nelson grew up skiing Stevens Pass in Washington state. After college, she followed some friends to Chamonix, France, where she intended to spend the winter — a winter that turned out to be five years long. During that time, Nelson transformed from a lift-served skier to a big-mountain, backcountry ski mountaineer, discovering a calling that would take her to some of the world's tallest and most challenging summits. With more than 40 expeditions to some of the most remote corners of the globe, the skier, mother and climber was the 2018 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and is the captain for The North Face’s global athlete team. As a member of Protect Our Winters Riders Alliance, Nelson shares her stories and life experiences to advocate for wild places. She is the first woman to climb two 8,000-meter peaks, Everest and its neighboring peak, Lhotse, in a single 24-hour period. And in September of 2018, Nelson returned to Lhotse to complete the first-ever ski descent of the peak, aka the Dream Line.