He Lost it All, Then Did the Impossible

October 20, 2026

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5 min read

He Lost It All, Then Did the Impossible

In 2023, Jim Morrison became the first person ever to ski down the north face of Mount Everest — a 9,000-foot vertical wall of snow, rock, and ice on the Himalayan peak's most dangerous side. But the feat was not the beginning of his story. It was the culmination of a life that had been shattered twice: first in 2011, when his wife Katie and their two young children, Wyatt and Hannah, died in a plane crash, and again in 2022, when his life partner Hilary Nelson was killed in a climbing accident while the two were skiing together at 26,000 feet. Morrison's descent down the Hornbein Couloir was, as National Geographic called it, "the most audacious ski run in history." But what he describes as the real story is what happens when you decide to keep moving forward after loss.

Grief as a blanket you learn to carry

Morrison describes grief as a "big, heavy, wet blanket" that at first suffocates you. Over time, he says, "I've learned to crawl out from under the blanket and dry it up and fold it up and carry it with me. It's not something that you move past or take off of you or get rid of. It's just becomes part of you." He is explicit that he does not want to leave it behind — the blanket is his connection to the people he lost.

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What you'll learn

1 Navigation Outline
2 (00:13) **The Impossible Feat** - Jim Morrison becomes the first person to ski down the north face of Everest
3 (03:46) **What It Feels Like to Ski the Impossible** - Jim describes the mental state during the descent
4 (07:09) **The Internal Drive That Makes It Possible** - Jim argues that the will to do the impossible isn't unique to him
5 (10:32) **Losing Hillary Nelson** - Jim's life partner was killed in a climbing accident three years before the Everest ski
6 (13:07) **The First Unimaginable Loss** - Jim's wife Katie and two children were killed in a plane crash in 2011
7 (15:10) **The Day His World Ended** - Jim describes learning his wife and children were gone

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Jim Morrison

Show Notes

In this episode we’re joined by Jim Morrison, the first person ever to summit and ski down the North face of Mt. Everest, a seemingly impossible feat. Oprah and Jim talk about his process of preparing for his historic ski run after previously attempting the climb twice before. Jim also reflects on the unbelievable tragedies in his life and how he managed his grief. Jim lost his wife and children in a plane crash in 2011, then his partner and fellow famed mountain skier, Hilaree Nelson, died in 2022 in an avalanche right in front of Jim. Academy Award winning filmmaker Jimmy Chin joins the conversation to give his perspective on how he and their film crew prepared to record this extraordinary accomplishment for a new documentary, “Everest, The Other Side.”

WATCH THE MOVIE

“Everest: the Other Side” will play in theaters and IMAX worldwide starting October 30th.

00:00:00 - Welcome Jim Morrison

00:04:30 - What goes through Jim’s mind on top of Everest

00:07:12 - What drove Jim to ski down Everest

00:09:25 - Jim lost his partner Hilaree

00:12:12 - Jim’s loss of his wife and two kids

00:17:00 - Jim’s definition of grief

00:30:00 - He failed to summit Mt. Everest 3 times

00:32:56 - Director Jimmy Chen joins

00:49:50 - A well-lived life

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