Hilaree Nelson

An American ski mountaineer from Seattle, Hilaree Nelson built a reputation for pioneering high‑altitude ski descents and ambitious alpine projects. Her verified achievements include becoming the first woman to summit two 8,000‑meter peaks in a single 24‑hour push and making the first ski descent of the Lhotse Couloir from the summit. Her practice combined technical climbing, long alpine approaches, and technical skiing on steep faces.

The available film, The North Face Presents: Earthside, follows a spring expedition to Baffin Island with Nelson and three fellow athletes. The film is framed as a trip movie: it documents big Arctic walls, first ski lines, and the logistics of moving through remote ice-and-rock terrain. For viewers, the sequences show how a small team manages risk, carries skis and ropes across complex terrain, and transitions between climbing and skiing in austere conditions. The film also functions as a record of friendship and team dynamics on long, remote objectives, and it is presented with the knowledge that Nelson died later in 2022, which colors the edit as a retrospective tribute rather than a simple expedition chronicle.

If you watch for technique and decision-making, the film offers clear depictions of alpine ropework, ski-transition routine, and the interplay between partners on big objectives; if you watch for human detail, it highlights camaraderie and the work that goes into first descents in a polar setting.