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 Athlete to Athlete Interview
 Mark Synnott interviews Hilaree Nelson O'Neill July 2001 The North Face athlete Mark Synnott uses his unique perspective to get to know the rest of our athlete team - who they are, what inspires them, and what lies ahead. Though I'd often heard tales of her awesome skiing ability, I'd never had the pleasure of speaking with Hilaree Nelson until I tracked her down for this interview. The timing was perfect because we were both in the midst of packing for an upcoming expedition to climb and ski British Columbia's Mount Waddington for a Warren Miller film. Outgoing, friendly, and easy to talk to, Hilaree felt like an old friend by the end of this hour-long conversation. Mark: I hear that you just moved to Telluride, Colorado. Where have you been living up to now? Hilaree: I've been on this epic road trip for about the last ten years. I grew up in Seattle, but left there when I was 18 to attend Colorado College. After Graduation, I headed over to Europe. My plan was to hang out there for a few months but I ended up living there for five years. I'd spend my winters skiing in Chamonix, and in the summer I lived on the beach in southwest France, right on the Atlantic Ocean. Living over there was one of the best experiences of my life. Mark: How did you make a living? Hilaree: I made all my money in the winter, competing in extreme skiing competitions and derbies. The Derbie de la Meije in La Grave is basically a downhill, only there are no gates. You start at the top of the mountain and ski as fast as you can to the bottom. Believe it or not you can make pretty good money if you do well. I also made money doing ski photo shoots. It worked out great because I could take the whole summer off. My main sport in the summers was surfing. I got good, but I wouldn't say I was great. Surfing is definitely the hardest sport I've ever done. I lived this lifestyle for about three years. In 1998, I fell in with The North Face. This started me with the big trips, going abroad to climb and ski big peaks. Mark: So why did you decide to move back to the US? Hilaree: Basically, I just got homesick. Also, I was travelling so much that it was getting difficult for me to be based out of Chamonix. I felt it would be easier for me to organize and get out on expeditions if I was based somewhere in the US. I chose Telluride because I like small ski towns. Mark: So how did you become a world class skier? Hilaree: I started skiing when I was three or four years old. In high school I taught skiing at Steven's Pass neart Seattle, Washington. Surprisingly, though, my main sport was basketball, not skiing. I played a lot of basketball in high school and college. I think I really got good by skiing with a lot of guys. Mark: Tell me about your last big adventure. Hilaree: My last trip was to an area in India called the Himachal Pradesh. I went with Kasha Rigby, Margaret Wheeler, and Allison Gannett. Four girls travelling alone in India is guaranteed to be a great adventure. We ended up getting a nice first descent of a 6000 meter peak called Hannuman Tiba. Actually, we didn't quite summit. The snow was just the most rotten stuff you could imagine. At one point I was out front, trying to gain this ridge, and it felt like the entire slope was going to cut loose. We ended up skinning up most of it. It was really too steep to skin because you'd sink in up to your waist. The ridge was heavily corniced, hanging over the face by like 20 or 30 feet. When we finally got there, no one saw any point in exposing ourselves to any more danger. We turned back probably 300-400 meters from the summit. Mark: That sounds kind of sketchy, Hilaree. How did you guys get down? Hilaree: It was wild. We decided to partially retrace our steps and then descend a couloir off the backside. The couloir had a massive cornice but we were able to cut it off with a rope and then descend safely. We ended up in this amazing 6000-foot long couloir. Luckily the snow was much better on this side of the mountain. To our amazement it was powder, and the skiing was actually quite good. There were a lot of ice chunks falling down this chute. Kasha got hit by a pretty big chunk on the thigh. She was bruised but okay. We got out of it by noon, which was good because things were bound to get even more dangerous as the mountain warmed up in the afternoon. Mark: So let's talk about this next adventure we'll be going on together to Mount Waddington. Tell me a bit about this trip. Hilaree: I kind of feel like I'm heading into the unknown because I've never been to this area, the Coast Range of British Columbia. I'm worried about the weather too, because it's supposed to be notoriously bad. More than anything, I'm psyched to be going a trip that involves both climbing and skiing because this is exactly the direction I want to be going in. Mark: Tell me more. Who's sponsoring the trip and who are the climbers/skiers? Hilaree: This trip is sponsored by The North Face and Warren Miller. We're going to make a film about climbing and skiing Mount Waddington. It's a serious peak, just under 14,000 feet. In addition to yourself and myself, the other members are Kasha Rigby, Rick Armstrong and Spencer Wheatley. I've climbed or skied with all of these people before and they're really fun folks. So I'm totally at ease in terms of group dynamics and the skills of everyone on this team. I think the good thing is that everyone knows their boundaries. No one is a kamikaze who would try to do something they aren't capable of doing. I've worked with some of the production crew as well and they're great filmers who know how to capture the essence of these adventures on film. Mark: What do you think the skiing will be like? Hilaree: I'm not expecting a whole lot. I am kind of thinking this is going to be more of a survival ski than big powder GS turns. We're heading in there kind of late in the season for good skiing, but early in the climbing season. The challenge is trying to make the summit and also get in some good turns. This is typical of ski mountaineering. Hopefully we won't get hosed on both. The timing is really tricky with ski mountaineering because it's like you have two different agendas and they're not necessarily compatible. They get a lot of rain in this range especially at this time of year. There's real potential for the weather to just suck, but there is an advantage to having a good cohesive team of friends. Hanging out in the tent with this group won't be all that bad. Mark: I've heard that the crux of the summit climb will be steep water ice. Have you done much of this type of climbing? Hilaree: I wouldn't say I've done a lot, but I have climbed some big ice walls over in the alps. In Switzerland, I climbed two 300 meter ice routes, but they weren't really tough. I feel comfortable though over snow and ice with crampons and ice tools. I've climbed a lot more on rock. I have to admit that I'm pretty psyched to go for the summit. Mark: What are you afraid of on this trip? Hilaree: I'm mostly afraid of the wetness. I haven't done much coastal stuff, but I've heard it can be really wet. There's always the potential for danger on a big mountain, but I'm not super worried about avalanches because I feel like it's late enough in the season that the snowpack should be melted down and fairly stable. It would be ideal if we had spring corn snow conditions. I think this is what everyone is hoping for. I've heard that this mountain, especially the final climb to the summit, is pretty gnarly. On the other hand, I want to start doing bigger and more difficult mountains and this trip fits into that goal. Thinking about it beforehand is always more nerve racking than being there doing it. Once you're there, looking at it, it's usually alright. Mark: This mountain is heavily glaciated. Do you feel dialed in on your glacier travel and crevasse rescue? Hilaree: Actually, that's one element in which I've had a lot of training. I was recently in Alaska doing guides training for a heli skiing job and so I'm feeling good about it. Mark: Is it possible to ski off the summit of Mount. Waddington? Hilaree: I don't think so, at least not by the way we're going up. I think you might be able to ski off the other side, but your run would end above some hanging glaciers. Mark: Why do you do it? Hilaree: You get a feeling when you're doing this stuff which is hard to explain. Let's just say that it feels great. It's funny because I'm always apprehensive and sometimes I'm not that psyched to leave home because, like everyone, I always have all kinds of other stuff going on in my life. There is a sense of being defeated when you don't attain the objective, but even these trips are valuable because of the people you meet and the new places you see and experience. Usually, when you're out there you'll find other mountains you didn't even know about. So, one adventure inevitably leads to another. Mark: Where do you want to be down the road? Would you like to have a family some day? Hilaree: I do want to have a family, definitely, but not yet. I'm not totally satisfied that I've had enough adventure yet, so I want to get in some more trips before I settle down. But really, I feel like I could still go on some good trips even if I have a family, but that perspective could easily change. I'm still learning and I still have some ambitious plans for the future in terms of my climbing and skiing. Mark: I know people like you. You're always scheming some new adventure. Would you care to share any plans that are currently in the works. Hilaree: I'd love to climb and ski an 8000 meter peak, like Shishapangma, Cho Oyu, or Makalu. Mark: Do you do well at altitude? Hilaree: Last Fall, a group of us climbed the Polish Glacier on Aconcagua, which is just under 23,000 feet. We had planned to ski it too but we got caught in an electrical storm on the summit and we literally had to run down the normal route. We did the right thing, however the weather was a little disappointing because I felt great up there and the snow on the Polish Glacier would have been good for skiing. Mark: So what's coming up after Waddington? Hilaree: I'll be home for a little while, just working and getting in shape. I'm looking forward to doing a lot of rock climbing around Telluride. In the Fall, I'm hoping to go for either Shishapangma or something down in South America. These big trips are hard to organize and they don't always come through but if I work hard I'm sure I can come up with a good adventure. I'd love to go down to Antarctica. Maybe I can somehow work that into the mix. Mark: Well thanks for your time. It'll be great to meet you later this week. Hilaree: Yeah, I'll see you on Wednesday up in Seattle. |
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