Trango

It's doctor Seuss looking stuff, Yeah.

I've never seen a line quite lik It's not straight forward.

You know, it's anything but straightforward.

There's so much going on when you leave base camp & turn the corner it's trying to kill you.

I mean, the lines just this iconic 7000-ish foot spire of rock that sticks out of the Baltoro Glacier and it seems like a really contrived ski line, but in actuality, it's a really clean ski run right off the summit of one of the world's most iconic granite faces.

The Baltoro Glacier is one of the longest glacier systems outside of the Artic.

It just leads up to 4 8000 meter peaks, the second highest mountain in the world K2 and wildly famous mountaineering history comes with this place.

Huge groups of Balto porters leading this massive expedition to these massive glaciers to try and experience these really unique otherworldly mountains.

The Trango glacier peels off of the Baltoro, goes to the Trango Towers which are some of the biggest granite faces in the world next to some of the wildest big wall climbing expeditions there have been anywhere on the planet.

Not only are they some of the biggest relief, they go up to over 20,000ft.

So they're really high mountains and we just try to figure out how to link a ski line off the summit of the Great Trango Tower.

Skully goes up to the nameless tower and and we'll make a camp there There's a camp called Red Star, then from there, we'll get on glaciated terrain and work our way up to the face that leads to the summit of the Great Trango Therell be lots of things to figure out along the way.

Hurdles to overcome and that's what we're here for.

The challenge of it.

I think I'm just most excited to even just see this place.

You know, it's I don't really think there's too many places on earth that can hod up.

to the kind of terrain there is It's just really, really rugged, steep and already a humbling just being amongst us.

You feel small for sure.

I'm really curious to see, once we turn the corner and get eyes up the whole gully.

I mean, it would be such an amazing treat to see a ribbon of snow going all the way up.

We will see.

Super psyched to be here.

Looking up at the great Trango Tower almost directly above us.

Seems pretty improbable how we're going to get down from there.

What inspires me to ski first descents is the puzzle.

So we're going to have to be pat I think.

And I hope Jim and McNutt are good at being patient because I'm not.

Expedition life is hard, lots of suffering And somehow that really sharpens and focuses your appreciation for the little things in life.

I'm really happy to be here with the team that I'm here with.

We're going to have a great adventure up there.

Jims skied a handful of 8000 meter peaks.

Hes climbed Everest.

He's skied Lhotse with Hillaree, and I think he's really drawn to the world's biggest and grandest peaks.

We're so fortunate to have him on our team.

I think he's a huge, huge asset in this line.

Christina "Lusti" Lustenberger, You know, she's pretty legendary skier and she's really made a mark on the mountains.

A lot of really wild first sense of what most people would call like mixed routes or alpine climbs.

Nicks an amazing freeride skier And the thing that's really cool Nick is now in the winter, he can ski anything.

Like he's an incredibly talented athlete.

And in the summer, he turns into this rock climber.

developing routes and climbing hard in Squamish.

It's cool to be kind of brought on to this you know, as a budding climber and kind of a novice alpinist I guess you'd say.

Like, I've definitely done some but never up high and never this remote.

Putting up Nameless Gully Jim, McNutt.

Stashing ropes and stuff that we're going to need higher up on the mountain.

High camp.

Nice one.

Lucy.

Yeah, boys.

She's made it.

First gear load.

One step closer.

Oh, I got load up here at high camp, and, there's the nameless tower.

You are looking peak, and over to right is the great Trango up in the clouds there.

Yeah.

I think on these trips, you just have to accept that, you're going to go up & down this piece of terrain multiple times and I think it's character building in a way.

Getting ready to go up to high camp spend one night at high camp, And then we're going to try to g to the summit the next day.

I think my biggest concerns are how everyone does at altitude, hoping that everyone just takes and plods along, and we all get comfortably and safely, and then we really take our time on the descent.

Whoa!

Look at that Holy.

I hope the Sherpas are out of the way.

Did you call the radio?

No.

That's gonna.. Can you check if you see them in the gully.

Can you see them?

I couldn't see them on the fan.

Hey.

Oh!

A huge avalanche came down off the upper glacier into this gully.

We've seen some movement through but this was definitely the biggest so far.

And porters we had sent down about an hour and a half ago.

We finally heard a yell.

And it's certainly a relief to know that they're ok All this cliff above camp that we look at is what we're skiing above.

So it's pretty outrageous exposure.

You get to these spots and sometimes you lose control for a moment and the fear that takes over your body is the most crippling feeling I've ever felt The idea is to stay in control and stay in this flow.

and stay in, this calculated mindset.

So we'll see.

I don't really want to feel that fear tomorrow.

A rather improbable ski line.

It sure does.

Doesn't look like a ski line from here at all.. It looks like an alpine climb Clear and calm.

Weather man was right.

Pack's feeling heavy, partner.

Yeah, I have a lot of metal in my pack.

Put this in over the cracks here I got another piece in.

I need to clear this traverse and then walk sideways.

Just climbed the first little mix step.

Kind of tricky.

Making progress.

Lucys rigging up to go across this pitch of pretty steep, actually.

Kind of suspect.

Looks like some blue ice there.

Might not be bad to have spacing on the slope.

What a place to go skiing 600m or so.

Boots up.

It's definitely thinner up here.

Came up as high as you could.

There's this huge crack all the way across the snow a couple hundred meters from the top still.

But but it's hard to get over there.

Something just went off below us Whoa.

Okay.

Big one right below us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're at this, like, huge horizontal crevasse, and it's.

It's a thing to get.

We're not even certain if we can get over it.

And then we're still probably 2 or 300m from the summit.

Time of day.

Bad thing just whipping off here We're, I think we're gonna turn around.

I think we're turning around, and I want to.

Yeah, I think we want it.

We want to turn.

Crazy position.

Just felt like you were perched on the edge of the world.

To be standing on that glacier and you could almost feel it through your feet.

I think that was just the like to tipping point, but a bunch of things were stacking up and I'm open to going back up well just see.

Put a lot of emphasis on success by getting to the top, but we're doing a really big climb.

We saw some amazing stuff and we made it back safe, which is the best part Very happy.

Everyone's here and.

Trango tower almost.

This whole expedition, I've been focused on everybody's safety and hindsight of not coming home with Hilaree alive coming to Pakistan with a new team and a new group of people that I havent been in big mountains with.

I have a overwhelming sense of responsibi to make sure that we're safe.

In Colorado, ski climber Hilaree Nelson was laid to rest today.

Nelson was skiing the summit of Mt.

Manaslu with her partner when she disappeared.

earlier this week.

On social med Jim Morrison posted that she was behind him and she made her way down.

And as she did so triggered an avalanche which carried her down about 5000ft, Nelson was one of the world's most accomplished skiing mountaineers.

I've been chasing her for a long time, and we've been chasing our dream together for a long time, and so I'm left trying to chase them without her still trying to accomplish some of those things for us, that we worked on together and we wanted to do together.

But it's hard.

That's hard to hard to do with without her.

I think it's a worthwhile responsibility to continue on, to move forward and to chase your dreams.

I'm happy to be here on this expedition with the awesome partners that I'm here with, and see what we can do in this wild and crazy place.

We got you.

I had a really horrible night last night.

Thought I could push through it.

Come to high camp.

Maybe feel better.

We got to get you back.

I really would have liked to go to the summit today.

I really think today was the day and perfect weather But she's really, really sick.

We'll get through some down days so come back up here and then hopefully ascend Its gonna make it that much sweeter For me.

It's just building strength keeping the fire strong I haven't lost it yet.

I don't think I will.

It's sort of a war of attrition, waiting for the weather to get to a good place.

I think it's hard to be in base day after day and I think when we do get a window, we're going to start feeling good as we move up and a great adventure awaits.

hopefully an awesome ski.

Walking out of camp, we've got a healthy team now.

16 days after our last attempt 16, we went up.

7000ft to top of the mountain Or slide.

Our name was so scary.

There's just more snow than we've seen up there.

Yeah.

Somethin just came off the great Trango Look in the air.

The first slide that I saw come down, just stopped me in my tracks and I was like what are we doing?

This doesn't feel right.

kept going,couple things happened didn't feel righ And I don't know, now I'm just kind of feel shameful for being up here and exposing just a bunch of people to unnecessary risk.

So.

Slide.

Lot of smoke in the air Lot of avalanches.

I think all we can do is sort of wait it out or put our tail between our legs chalk it up to a beautiful experience and an awesome mountains and.

A whole lot of almost.

When we left, it was pretty clear that, people wanted to go down after a month out there, it's definitely like on your mind You want to get back and see hom & your friends and family sitting here now and looking back on the trip, all I can really think about is that we should come back.

There's so many emotions, happy and proud.

But there's this side, I feel quite lost and it's like, what's next?

Where do I go?

And I guess that's just life.

Things coexist together.

I know myself well enough that over time I'll just have a strong desire to go back and complete the goal.

Coming home with nothing but what felt like failure was really hard for me.

But there was certainly a lot of small wins.

I sort of confronted a really difficult emotion of putting one foot in in front of the other and spending those down days in my tent alone, just thinking what it's going to be like to be without Hillaree in the mountain I've accepted a lot of that over the last year, and decided this is something I want to do, & in a much more positive place.

You know, there's so much uncer ainty with these trips, and you have to have a good reason why you want to come back.

I just always went back to leading across that traverse, and it was this experience of being on that mountain and in that position.

Our good buddy Nick McNutt was excited to come back with Kristina and I he got married this last summer and his wife's pregnant, so he felt it was not a good time to go to Pakistan for six weeks Kristina invited Chantal Astorga who's a pretty badass, alpinist.

It's amazing.

I've been reading about this are for so long in the history of alpine climbing, and I get to be here to ski, which is super cool.

Ive skied a lot of steep lines in the bigger mountains I've also like been able to open some ski descents in the Alaska Range.

The first really cool thing that I heard Chantelle did was she climbed up on Denali descended down the Seattle ramp to the bottom o Cassin ridge, soloed the Cassin and then skied back down on Denali back to high camp.

Pretty cool feat.

Hillaree & I climbed the Cassin over days and she did it in a single push & skied down.

What are you chasing?

It's a good question.

I think it's just.

In some ways, trying to.

Push myself or my sport in ways that haven't necessarily been done by a female or maybe a male.

But at the end of all of that, I think to experience it.

You know, I want to feel the void underneath my feet Its one of the most wild positions I've ever been on.

I mean, theres just a certain inherent risk in climbing the great Trango tower on some hanging glacier that's on the side of it, with all the variables.

that's so much debris That's crazy.

If you're standing here and avalanch came, would you run right or left?

This whole glacier up here is just a house of cards, just teetering on this, like, really smooth granite slab.

You wouldve thought we had a snowstorm last night, but just the powder blast that covered this whole area.

Pakistan is is a wild & raw place, & there's just loose rock falling down and avalanches falling down around us.

We're going to try to go up tomorrow to our high camp & try to go to the summit It's our last possible window in a two year try.

We really need to decide.

How much snow & ice gear we need for the upper glacier.

You know, I think it's the type of terrain to throw in an ice screw and just simul climbs, right?

Because it's nice to feel connected to the mountain there, especially when you're questioni snow and avalanche conditions.

Today we're going up to camp which is a pretty simple climb.

We go up about 3000ft & we have a camp set up already We're going to go up to camp organize all our gear & get read for a super early alpine start.

Departure from high camp tomorrow morning is 3 a.m.

and from there we travel the nameless gully.

We'll come up to the first crux which is in the winter, it's mixed rain.

Up to the ice for traverse.

I think it's a frequent flier.

Its super fun to hear those noises Crazy crack in the snow right here.

All the way down.

All the way up.

Will then come up against the cracks that turned us around last year.

Which is this gaping crevasse that traverses horizontally.

Pretty much the whole line.

This whole piece of terrain, is just the edge of the world.

You can be standing on this, improbable feature that you trust completely, but one meter to your left is the most unforgiving, free hanging space.

Im secure.

You're on the way.

Across the crevasse.

Everyone's over now into some deeper snow.

We got to turn right and then back left up.

And you can see the summit there Starting to feel it.

Elevation.

Punchy.

Deep.

High.

Haed work up here.

Almost 20,000ft.

Whooh!

Yeah !

!

There's a cornice up here.

I have to go on the backside to go to the summit.

This is unconsolidated.

Wow.

Top of Trango!

Oh my gosh.

K2, Broad Peak.

Gangchempo Masherbrum The Baltoro Con Cordia.

Oh!

Emotional.

Up here on the great Trango tower There's a lot of strength behind that guy.

Seeing him walk on the summit was Yeah Lusti Round two buddy.

Worked pretty hard for this one Yeah.

I think we've all experienced some sort of loss or depression, and I've just found that working through that, by accepting it, by appreciating the time spent with loved ones by envisioning their spirit and their smile and their life.

To move forward to live your life in a positive manner is an honorable way to care for your loved ones.

Oh boy.

Big range.

Base camp or bust.

Oh, yeah.

I'm secure.

Just watch out for crevasses.

Yeah, Lusti What a day.

Excited to have pulled it off.

Sick to be off the face and just ski this.

Here comes Jim.

Nice.

Job.

Good job.

Goin down!

Oh!

Oh, are you happy?

Very happy.

Good job today.

Yeah.

This is the first big Himalayan that I tried to do.

And that I was successful with since we lost Hillaree.

Going to the summit, I was thinking about her Stepping into my skis, I was just thinking about how much youd love to ski down and get out of the mountains and get home to her kids and.

Was a special, emotional moment for me.

On top thinking about Hillaree and missing her.

It really felt like him walking up there, She was with him.

And I just feel like that was incredible for him.

It was really nice to watch and to follow.

It was just really special to get to be a part of a team, to open a new line the greater range of the world.

That's something I've always w and it was pretty cool to be a part of that.

I thought about this a lot why you ski these dangerous line and it's the only place where you're so alive, but also closest to death.

To be found is to be in these places.