There was little hope left. The messages were too clear. Hilaree Nelson falls into a crevasse while descending Manaslu. The search lasted two days. Now her lifeless body is being recovered. One of the most important mountaineers of our time is dead.

The famous ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson has died in an accident in the Himalayas. A search team found the lifeless body of the 49-year-old who fell into a crevasse shortly after the summit on Monday while descending Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world. Her body will first be taken to the summit base camp and later flown to Kathmandu.

Nelson, who is survived by her two sons, Graydon and Quinn, and her partner, Jim Morrison, is remembered as one of the greatest ski mountaineers in history. In 2012 she became the first woman to conquer Mount Everest and its neighboring mountain Lhotse within 24 hours, and in 2018 she pioneered the first ski descent from Lhotse.

Last Thursday, Nelson admitted via Instagram that this time he didn't feel as safe "as in my past adventures in the thin air of the Himalayas. The last few weeks have been a whole new test of my resilience."

Nelson is the second confirmed fatality of the fall climbing season. On the day of her accident, an avalanche had broken off between camps 3 and 4 on 8,163-meter-high Manaslu, killing Nepalese climber Anup Rai and injuring a dozen other climbers. These could later be saved.

Nepal is home to 8 of the 14 highest peaks in the world. Foreign climbers flock to the mountains and are an important source of income for the country. However, the environmental damage caused by mass tourism in the Himalayas is also striking.