New film shows climber skiing down Everest's north face after partner's death

Jim Morrison is the first person to ski down the north face of Mount Everest. The documentary 'Everest: The Other Side,' opening in theaters on Friday, records his 2025 achievement. The film also documents the death of his partner, Hilaree Nelson, which occurred during a separate expedition in 2022. For audiences, the movie combines a rare athletic feat with the personal grief of the climbers involved.

Nelson died in an avalanche on a Nepalese mountain while the couple waited for weather windows to attempt Everest. She had never skied down the north face of the world's highest peak before her death. The film captures the event in IMAX format, showing the snow dislodging beneath her and Morrison recovering her body two days later. The footage depicts the physical and emotional toll of that loss.

Director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and filmmaker Jimmy Chin, who previously worked on 'Free Solo,' helmed the new project. Chin, who summited and skied down Everest's south face in 2006, joined Morrison on both an aborted climb and the successful 2025 attempt. Vasarhelyi stated that the film faced a difficult reality because the worst case scenario for their subjects actually happened. The directors balanced their role as observers with their own experiences of risk in the mountaineering community.

Morrison’s decision to proceed with the climb came within months of Nelson's death. He had previously lost his wife Katie and two children, Wyatt and Hannah, in a plane crash years earlier. The documentary follows the couple's two sons growing up without their mother. Despite the loss, Morrison viewed the Everest descent as a continuation of his life and a way to fulfill his desire to ride what he called the raddest ski line in the world.

The 2025 expedition included concerns from Sherpa team members about the risks involved. Some hesitated to join the climb, a tension the film captures. The successful descent took four hours and required Morrison to navigate rock-hard snow conditions. The film, distributed by Walt Disney Co., is rated PG-13 and runs 115 minutes. It presents the climb as both a technical challenge and a solitary endeavor.