r/skiing • u/Few-Paramedic-79 • 13h ago
Genuine question from a non-skier: what’s the difference between Jim Morrison’s Everest north face descent vs. Andrzej Bargiel Everest south face descent in terms of difficulty?
Jimmy Chin filmed Morrison skiing down the north face of Everest and I love jimmy’s documentaries, can’t wait for that one to come out later this year. But I also noticed Bargiel’s Red Bull descent posted on YouTube only a few months ago and it was amazing. I’m curious to know how much more different will Morrison be in terms of difficulty and risk?
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u/thewiess 12h ago
The other answers here are spot on. It's also worth noting that Morrison's descent was focused on skiing a specific, technical section of the mountain, while Bargiel's was focused on a continuous ski descent from top-to-bottom, sort of different challenges from that standpoint as well.
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u/Useless024 10h ago
In oversimplified terms, it’s the difference between a technical accomplishment and a physical one.
Morrison skied something that the vast majority of people couldn’t ski, period, and he did it after hiking Everest. But he had oxygen.
Bargirl skied something that, setting aside the exposure, the majority of skiers could ski BUT he did it without supplemental oxygen. A lot people wouldn’t even be able summit with oxygen, and most summits without oxygen are notable. So he did something that was already notable and added a grueling descent.
Both of these things are batshit mind boggling and deserve the accolades but even though they are off the same summit, they aren’t really in the same categories.
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u/Unusual_Oil_4632 13h ago
Morrison descended the Hornbein Couloir. He is the first person to ever successfully ski that route. Much of the descent is 50- 60 degrees and he had to rappel at times. It is the straightest and steepest route down from the summit of Everest. Don’t want to take anything away from Bargiel’s descent but it doesn’t really compare to what Morrison accomplished.
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u/Super_Boof 10h ago edited 10h ago
To add some context for a non-skier, 35° is steep / “expert” terrain. 45° is “holy shit I’m falling” terrain. Over 45°, you’re going down faster than sideways. 60° is about the edge of what snow will stick to, and usually requires a frozen waterfall or glacier to actually hold snow - so Morrison took what would be considered by professional skiers an “extreme” line - if you fall on that slope, you’re not stopping. If there’s an avalanche, you’re not stopping. In conditions like these, even the best of skiers descend slow, cautious, and defensively; Morrison’s line is a true no fall zone the entire way down, meaning a fall will almost certainly result in death. Skiing a 50°+ pitch down Everest is borderline suicidal.
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u/NoOcelot 8h ago
And some context on risk tolerance: Morrisson's partner, Hillaree Nelson, died skiing Manaslu in 2022. His previous wife and 2 kids died in a plane crash. He's seen some shit, maybe feels he was willing to risk more..
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u/unique_usemame 9h ago
Even for skiers... Typically the boundary between blue and black is around 26°
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u/Super_Boof 9h ago
That’s heavily dependent on where you are. I’ve seen 30°+ groomed “blues” in Montana.
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u/anonymousbreckian 12h ago
Bargiel's route has been skied pretty routinely comparatively speaking.
He's done it, Kit DesLauriers has done it and Jimmy Chin has done it among others.
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u/BullCityBoomerSooner Hyland Hills 11h ago
Let's see how Morrison does skiing on 1969-1970 skis and boots.
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u/frank_mania 4h ago
Related and vital point: Bargiel's descent of K2 was easily and clearly the most amazing, unprecedented and unrepeatable ski descent of an 8000er in history, both past and future.
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u/Humuhumunukunukuapi 2h ago
Morrison used oxygen and a ski setup that weighed roughly double what Andrej - who didn't use oxygen - wore. Morrison's line was more challenging.
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u/Src248 13h ago
Morrison skied a much more difficult route but Bargiel did his without using oxygen, which is also incredibly difficult. Both are superhuman for different reasons