Original subtitles

[wind howling]

[wind howling continues]

[atmospheric cinematic music]

[thud]

[man chanting]

[indistinct chatter]

[music continues]

[woman] It's Dr. Seuss looking stuff, you know?

It's p-- yeah, I've never seen a line quite like this.

It's not straightforward,

you know, it's anything but straightforward.

There's so much going on from the moment you leave base camp

and turn the corner,

there's shit trying to kill you.

[man] I mean, the line's just...

this iconic,

7,000-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 really clean ski run right off the summit

of one of the world's most iconic granite faces.

[music continues]

[music fades]

[man] Well, the Baltoro Glacier is one of the...

longest glacier systems outside of the Arctic.

It just leads up to 4, 8000 meter peaks,

the second highest mountain in the world, K2 and...

wildly famous mountaineering history

that comes with this place.

Huge groups of Balti porters

leading these massive expeditions

up these massive glaciers

to try to climb and

experience these...

really unique...

other worldly mountains.

The Trango...

Glacier peels off of the Baltoro,

goes to The Trango Towers, which are

some of the biggest granite faces

that are anywhere in the world and

mixed with lore of some of the wildest...

big wall climbing expeditions

there've been anywhere in the planet.

[wondrous music]

Not only are they some of the biggest relief,

they go up to over 20,000 feet.

So they're really high mountains

and we just happen to try to figure out

how to link a ski line

off the summit of The Great Trango Tower.

[soft dramatic music]

[whistling]

[indistinct chatter]

This gully goes up to the Nameless Tower,

and-- and we will make a camp up there.

There's a camp called Red Star Camp.

And 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.

And there'll 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.

[man 2] 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 hold up... to the

kind of terrain there is here. It's just...

really, really rugged,

steep, and...

already kind of a humbling place

just being amongst this is--

You feel small, for sure.

[majestic music]

[woman] 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.

[music continues]

[man] Super psyched to be here.

Looking up at the...

Great Trango Tower,

almost directly above us, is...

seems pretty improbable

how we're going to get down from up there.

[woman] What inspires me

to ski first descent is just the puzzle.

So we're gonna have to be patient, I think.

I hope... Jim and McNutt are good at being patient

because I'm not. [chuckles]

[man 2] Expedition life is...

hard and there's a lot of suffering, and...

somehow that just really sharpens and focuses

your appreciation for

the little things in life,

and...

I'm really happy to be here with the team

that I'm here with, and,

uh, we're gonna have a great adventure up there.

[woman] Jim's skied a handful of 8000 meter peaks.

He's climbed Everest,

he's skied Lhotse with Hilaree,

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,

to us and this line.

[McNutt] Lusti, Christina Lustenberger, you know,

she's pretty legendary skier from BC,

and she's really made a mark on the mountains,

a lot of really wild first descents

of what most people would call like

mixed routes or alpine climbs.

[Lusti] Nick is an amazing free ride skier,

um, and the thing that's really cool about Nick is...

you know, in the winter, he can ski anything.

Like he's an incredibly talented athlete,

and in the summers, he turns into this rock climber,

developing routes and climbing hard in Squamish.

[McNutt] It's cool to be...

kind of brought onto this,

you know, as like a budding climber

and kind of like a novice alpinist I guess you'd say.

Like I've definitely done some stuff, but never up high,

and never this remote.

[Lusti] Heading up...

the Nameless Gully,

Jim...

McNutt...

[breathes heavily]

We're stashing ropes

and a bunch of stuff

that we're gonna need

higher up on the mountain.

-High Camp. -Nice one, Lusti.

-[Lusti] Yeah, boys. -[indistinct]

-Made it. -[Lusti] First gear load.

-[McNutt] High Camp. -[Lusti] One step closer.

[McNutt] We've got...

a load up here at High Camp,

and, uh...

there's the Nameless Tower,

pretty wild looking peak, and then over...

on the right is The Great Trango up in the clouds there.

[wind howling]

[soft dramatic music]

-[Lusti cheering] -[man] Wohoo!

[Christina laughs]

[indistinct]

Yeah! [chuckles]

I think on these trips, you just have to accept that

you know, you're gonna go

up and down this piece of terrain

multiple times, and...

I think it's character building in a way.

[Jim] Getting ready to go up to High Camp,

spend one night at High Camp,

and then we're gonna try to...

go to the summit the next day.

I think my biggest concerns are just how

everyone does at altitude,

hoping that everyone just takes their time and...

plods along and we all get there comfortably and safely,

and then,

we really take our time on the descent.

[plastic rustling]

[music continues]

[sighs]

[slow indie pop music]

♪ They say it's happening ♪

♪ It's starting now ♪

♪ You thought you left me ♪

♪ You thought you knew how ♪

♪ And they say I couldn't love you more ♪

♪ Than I do now ♪

♪ Well, show me how ♪

♪ Show me how ♪

[Jim] Here comes the avy.

Whoa!

[Lusti] McNutt.

-[McNutt] Holy! -[Lusti] Holy fuck,

I hope those [indistinct] are out of the way.

Woah!

You called the radio?

-[man speaks indistinctly] -[Lusti] No. Fuck.

[McNutt] That's gonna...

[Lusti] Can you...

check if you see them in the gully?

[suspenseful music]

[Lusti] Woo!

Can you see them?

[McNutt speaks indistinctly]

[Jim] I couldn't see them on the fan.

[Christina calls out]

A huge avalanche came down off the upper glacier,

into this gully. We've seen some movement through there,

but this was definitely the biggest.

So far in-- were porters we had...

sent down about an hour and a half ago,

we finally heard a yell.

That was certainly...

a relief to know that they're okay, and-- [scoffs]

Fuck.

[McNutt] All of this cliff above camp that we're looking at,

is what we're skiing above,

so it's...

pretty outrageous exposure.

[Lusti] You get to these spots and...

sometimes you lose control for a moment.

The fucking fear that takes over your body is...

the most intense...

...crippling feeling that...

I've ever felt.

The idea is to stay in control,

and stay in this flow state,

and stay in...

you know, this calculated mindset.

So we'll see.

I don't really wanna feel that fear tomorrow.

[Jim] It's like a rather improbable ski line.

[McNutt] It sure does, doesn't look like a ski line,

from here at all.

It looks like an alpine climb from here. [chuckles]

[soft dramatic music]

Pretty clear and calm.

Weatherman was right.

[music continues]

[backpack jingling]

Pack's feeling heavy, partner.

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

[intense dramatic music]

[McNutt] Lusti's putting a piece in...

a bit of a crux here.

[metal clanking]

[breathing shakily]

[Lusti] I got another piece in.

I'm gonna just clear this traverse

and then walk sideways.

[music continues]

Just climbed...

the first little mixed step.

Uh, kind of tricky,

making progress.

[music continues]

[McNutt] Lusti's rigging up a...

belay to go across this pitch of...

pretty steep actually, kind of suspect.

Looks like there's some blue ice in there.

[Lusti] Might not be bad to have a bit of spacing on this slope.

[McNutt] Wild place to go skiing.

600 meters or so,

from the top.

It's definitely a little thinner up here.

[music ends]

Came up as high as we could,

and there's this huge crack,

all the way across the snow.

Couple hundred meters from the top still, but...

...looks hard to get over there.

[snow crashing]

[man] Something just went off below us.

Whoa, big one right below us.

Yeah.

[tense music]

[Lusti over radio] 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, 300 meters from the summit, time of day.

That thing just whipping off here.

We're, um--

-I think we're gonna turn around. -[man] Yeah.

[Lusti] I think we're turning around.

[man] I mean, I want to. [laughs]

[Lusti] Yeah, I think...

we wanna-- [chuckles]

we wanna turn around.

[music continues]

[Lusti] Crazy position,

just felt like you were perched

on the edge of the world.

To be standing on that piece of glacier

and you could almost feel it through your feet.

I think that was just the like,

ti-- tipping point that it's like--

A bunch of things were stacking up and...

I'm open to going back up, but we'll just see.

[Jim] We put a lot of...

emphasis on success by

getting to the top,

but...

we went on a really big climb.

We saw some amazing stuff,

and we made it back safe, which is the best part.

I'm very happy everyone's here, and...

...Trango Tower almost.

[somber music]

Yeah, this whole expedition

I've been very...

...focused on everybody's safety.

In hindsight of...

...not coming home with Hilaree...

alive.

And coming to Pakistan with a new team

and a new group of people that I haven't...

...been in big mountains with,

I have a...

overwhelming sense of responsibility

to make sure that we're... safe.

[reporter] ...ski climber, Hilaree Nelson was laid to rest

in Nepal today. Nelson was skiing

from the summit of Mount Manaslu

with her partner when she disappeared earlier this week.

On social media, Jim Morrison posted that she was behind him

and she made her way down, and as she did so,

triggered a small avalanche

which carried her down 5000 feet.

Nelson was one of the world's

most accomplished ski mountaineers.

[Jim] I've been chasing her for...

...a long time, and we've been chasing

our dreams together for a long time.

And so I'm left...

trying to chase them without her.

I'm still trying to accomplish some of those things for us.

Things that we worked on...

together and we wanted to do together.

But it's hard, it's hard--

It's hard to do with-- without her.

I think it's...

a worthwhile responsibility to...

continue on and 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.

[tense music]

We got ya.

[music continues]

I had a really horrible night last night.

Thought I could push through it,

come to High Camp,

maybe feel better.

[sighs]

We're gonna get you back.

I really would've liked to go to the summit today.

I really think today was the day and perfect weather,

and perfect window, but she's really, really sick.

[exhales and groans]

We'll get through some down days.

We'll come back up here,

and then we're gonna hopefully ascend,

and it's gonna make it that much sweeter.

[Lusti] For me, it's just building strength,

keeping the fire strong.

If I haven't lost it yet, I don't think I will. [chuckles]

[wind howling]

[Jim] It's sort of a war of attrition, waiting for the weather to...

get to a good place.

I think it's hard just be in base camp,

day after day, and...

I think when we do get a weather window,

we're gonna sta-- start feeling good

as we move up the mountain and,

a great adventure awaits,

and-- and uh,

hopefully an awesome ski.

Walking outta camp.

We got a healthy team now.

Sixteen days after our last real attempt.

-Sixteen? -We went up...

...7000 feet to the top of the mountain.

Little slide on Nameless.

[McNutt] Is that scary?

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

[Jim] Yeah.

[snow crashing]

Something just came off...

The Great Trango.

Smoke in the air.

[Lusti] The first slide that I saw come down,

it just stopped me in my tracks, and it was just--

like, "What are we doing? This is--

...doesn't feel right."

And then kept going, and a couple other things happened,

didn't feel right 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.

[Jim] A lot of smoke in the air, a lot of avalanches.

I think all we can do is sort of...

...wait it out or put our tail between our legs and...

...chalk it up to a beautiful experience

in awesome mountains and...

...a whole lot of almosts.

[slow hopeful music]

[McNutt] When we left, it was pretty clear that like...

people wanted to go down.

You know, after a month out there,

it's definitely like,

on your mind that you wanna

get back and see your home and...

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.

[Lusti] There's so many emotions.

You know, I feel...

happy and proud,

but there's this side where I feel...

...um...

...quite lost.

And...

yeah, it's like,

"What's next? Where do I go?"

And I guess that's just... life,

things coexist together.

[Jim] I know myself well enough that I think over time,

I'll just have this

strong desire to go back and, uh,

complete the-- the goal.

[slow instrumental music]

[music fades]

[upbeat music playing]

[music fades]

[Jim] Coming home last year 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 front of the other and

spending those down days in my tent alone,

just thinking about

what it's gonna be like to be

without Hilaree in the mountains.

I've accepted a lot of that over the last year,

and I've decided that if this is something I wanna do and...

I'm just in a much more positive place.

[soft music]

[Lusti] You know, there's just so much uncertainty

with these trips and--

so you have to have a pretty good

reason why you'd want to come back.

I just always went back to...

leading across that ice screw traverse and...

it was this experience of being

on that mountain and in that position.

[Jim] Our good buddy Nick McNutt,

just-- was excited to come back with Christina and I,

and, uh...

he got married this last summer and his wife's pregnant,

so...

he felt like it was

not a good time to leave home

and go to Pakistan for six weeks.

Christina invited Chantel Astorga, who's a...

pretty badass, quiet crusher alpinist.

[Chantel] It's amazing I-- I've been

reading about this area for so long

and the history of alpine climbing and...

I get to be here to ski, which is super cool.

I've skied a lot of steep lines

in the bigger mountains for sure.

I've also, like,

been able to open

some ski descents in places like

the Alaska Range.

First really cool thing that I heard Chantel did

was she climbed up on Denali,

descended down

the Seattle ramp to the bottom

of the Cassin Ridge,

soloed the Cassin Ridge,

and then skied back down the normal route

on Denali back to High Camp.

Pretty cool feat.

Hilaree and I climbed

the Cassin over days, and she...

did it in a single push and skied down.

[water sloshing]

What are you chasing?

[Lusti chuckles]

That'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 it's just...

...to experience it.

You know, I wanna...

feel the void underneath my feet up there...

...so it's just one of the most wild

positions I've ever been on.

[soft suspenseful music]

[Jim] I mean, there's just a certain inherent risk

in climbing of The Great Trango Tower

on some hanging glacier that's on the side of it

with all the variables.

[Lusti] Man, that's so much debris, that's crazy.

If you were standing here,

and the fucking lanche 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 would've thought we had a snowstorm last night,

but it was just the powder blast that...

covered this whole area.

[music intensifies]

[Jim] Pakistan is-- is a wild and raw place,

and there's just so much loose rock falling down

and avalanches falling down around us, and--

We're gonna try to go up tomorrow

to our High Camp and try to go

to the summit the next day.

It's our last possible window

in a two year try.

[Lusti] We really need to decide...

...how much snow and ice gear we need for...

...the upper glacier.

You know, I think it's just

the type of terrain

to throw in an ice screw and...

just simul-climb through it because...

...it's nice to...

feel connected to the mountain there,

especially when you're questioning...

...snow and avalanche conditions.

[jingling]

Today, we're gonna go up to High Camp,

which is a pretty simple climb.

We go up about 3000 feet,

and we have a camp set up already.

We're gonna go up to that camp and organize all our gear

and get ready for a super early alpine start.

[Lusti] Departure from High Camp tomorrow morning is 3:00 AM.

And from there, we travel

the last bit of the Nameless Gully.

[suspenseful music]

We'll come up to the first crux, which is--

in the winter it's mixed terrain.

Up to the ice screw traverse,

I think it's a frequent flyer.

Some serac falling.

[snow crashing]

Super fun to hear those noises.

Crazy...

crack in the snow right here,

all the way down,

all the way up.

We'll then come up against

the crux 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 shit.

You can be standing on this, like,

improbable feature,

that you trust completely,

but one meter to your left

is the most unforgiving free hanging space.

[suspenseful music]

[footsteps rustle on snow]

[music continues]

[breathing heavily]

[heavy breathing continues]

[metal rattling]

[Lusti] I'm secure.

You're on belay.

Crossed the crevasse.

Everyone's over...

now into some deeper snow.

We got to trend right, and then back left,

up, and you can see the summit there.

Starting to feel it.

The elevation,

punchy,

deep,

high.

[Jim] Hard work up here.

Almost 20,000 feet.

[music continues]

[breathing heavily]

[heavy breathing continues]

[Jim] Woo!

-[exhales] -[women in the distance] Whoo!

[Jim] Fuck yeah!

There's a cornice up here.

I have to go on the back side to go to the summit.

This is... unconsolidated,

mank,

nothing but mank.

[wondrous music]

[grunts]

[music continues]

[Jim breathing heavily]

Wow!

Top of Trango!

Oh my gosh.

K2, Broad Peak,

G4,

Masherbrum,

The Baltoro,

Concordia.

[exhales]

A little emotional up here on the...

Great Trango Tower.

[cheers]

[Lusti] There's a lot of strength [chuckles]

behind that guy.

Seeing him walk on the summit was...

[crying]

[Jim] Yeah, Lusti.

[Lusti] Round two, buddy.

We worked pretty hard for this one.

[Lusti] Fucking hell.

[cheering]

-[Jim] Yeah. -[Lusti] Woo!

[Jim] 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 ap-- appreciating the time

you spent with your loved ones...

...by envisioning their...

spirit, and their smile,

and their life.

To move forward and to live your life in a positive manner

is an honorable way to...

...care for your loved ones.

Oh boy.

Big range.

[exhales]

Base camp or bust.

[majestic music]

[breathing heavily]

[Jim] Ooh, yeah!

[music continues]

I'm secure.

Just watch out for crevasses.

[music continues]

Fuck yeah, Lusti.

What a day!

Pretty psyched we pulled it off.

[metal rattling]

[music continues]

[Lusti] Psyched to be off the face,

and...

just skied this.

Here comes Jim.

Nice one.

Good job.

Good job.

[music continues]

Going down!

[cheering loudly]

[Lusti] Are you happy?

Very happy.

Good job today.

[Lusti groans]

[majestic music continues]

[Jim] Yeah, this is the first...

big Himalayan objective

that I tried to do and that I was successful with,

since we lost Hilaree.

[melancholic music]

Going to the summit, I was thinking about her and...

...stepping into my skis as...

I was thinking about how much she would love to ski down and

get out of the mountains and get home to her kids and...

...it was a special...

emotional moment for me on top.

Thinking about Hilaree and missing her.

[Lusti] It really felt like him walking up there,

she was with him,

and I just...

...feel like that was an incredible moment for him.

It was really nice to watch and to follow. [sniffles]

[Chantel] It was just really special for me

to get to

be a part of a team,

to open a new line in...

the greater range of the world.

That's something I've always wanted to do.

And, yeah, it was pretty cool to be a part of that.

[Lusti] I've thought about this a lot, as like,

why you ski these dangerous lines, 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.

[music ends]

[ambient electronic music]

♪ Frozen ♪

♪ Like flowers In the winter bloom ♪

♪ Taken ♪

♪ They tell me You were gone too soon ♪

♪ Can't do nothing ♪

♪ And it keeps me Holding onto you ♪

♪ So don't let go When it matters ♪

♪ When it matters When it matters ♪

♪ Just feel it all As it happens ♪

♪ As it happens As it happens ♪

♪ So don't let go When it matters ♪

♪ When it matters When it matters ♪

♪ You'll be here haunting me ♪

[music ends]