Lead Image: This week, skiing lost a trailblazer, mother, and legend when Hilaree Nelson lost her life on the Himalayan Peak “Manaslu”. More on that below. Image: Hilaree Nelson on Facebook

#1: Hilaree Nelson, a Skiing Legend, Mother, and Incredible Human Being, Has Passed Away:

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Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the September 30, 2022 edition.

If you’re a regular reader of ours, you’ll likely realize that this edition is already starting off a bit differently as our first sentence has ended with a hard stop rather than an exclamation point. That’s because we start this week’s news on an incredibly sad note: Hilaree Nelson, one of the largest names in ski mountaineering and hands down one of the most inspirational female skiers of all time, has passed away.

Now, before we get into this story, we want to make one thing perfectly clear: as a rule of thumb, we try not to report on deaths within the industry as the very last thing we want to do is treat a loss of life as marketing material. While we love sharing ski news with our readers each week and we truly believe that this series adds value to our community, at the end of the day, it is a marketing effort on the behalf of a ski retailer. For that reason, we rarely cover deaths as doing so simply doesn’t sit right with us. The passing of Hilaree Nelson is different though.

This week, while descending from the Himalayan Peak “Manasalu”, Hilaree Nelson lost her life. Rather than diving into the details of the story though, let’s instead talk about who Hilaree Nelson was. The best way we can think to introduce some perspective is by revisiting an update we shared back in October of 2018, when Nelson and her partner Jim Morrison had just successfully completed the first ski descent down Lhotse Peak, neighbor of Mt. Everest and the 4th tallest peak in the world. At the time, the pair cited the accomplishment as a lifetime goal for them. For the global ski community, and the ski mountaineering community in particular, the achievement elevated the pair to “Legend” status as their names had become engraved in the history books forever. While Nelson had been a force in the ski mountaineering community long before that accomplishment, her success on Lhotse propelled her to an entirely new level of recognition and influence. In 2018, National Geographic named her their Adventurer of the Year. Shortly after that, The North Face named her the captain of their entire North American Athlete Team, a roster which, as you can imagine, contains no shortage of recognizable names.

Hilaree was so much more than just a list of career accomplishments and accolades though. In the wake of her death, we’ve learned about who Hilaree Nelson was as a person, outside of her athletic feats. When it was announced that Nelson’s body had been recovered, the outpouring of tributes on social media was impossible to miss. Some of these tributes were from people, women in particular, who had never met her but had been inspired by her leadership as one of the most fearless women in the industry, unbound by gender expectations. Others were from those who did know her personally, every one of which told the story of a person who was a constant light to everyone they encountered. On multiple occasions we came across instances of people denouncing the idea that you shouldn’t meet your heroes, because when they met Hilaree, she surpassed every expectation. Perhaps most touching though were the tributes in which her closest friends shared Hilaree’s perspectives on being both a mother and a risk taker. In one tribute, which we neglected to save but desperately wish we could find, one of Hilaree’s friends recalled a conversation she had with Hilaree about being a mother while continuing to pursue her passion of high altitude mountaineering which carries incredible risk. In response to whether or not she was worried about death, Nelson said, “if I die, it’s not because of what I did or didn’t do in the mountains, it’s only because death is a part of life.”*

By all measures, Hilaree Nelson was an incredible skier and mountaineer, but an even more remarkable human being and mother. It’s with this in mind that we thank her, wherever she may be, for her contributions to the world, both in the time she spent here, as well as the legacy she leaves behind. Rest in peace Hilaree. We hope that wherever you are, there are endless peaks to summit and explore, all whilst continuing to inspire your peers.

*Please, send us a link if you know which post we’re referencing here so we can give proper credit and ensure that this quote is 100% accurate.

#2: Utah Transit Authority Announces Reduction in Salt Lake Ski Bus Services Ahead of Winter:

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Truth be told, we wish we didn’t have to lead with that heart breaking news this week as every other highlight feels a bit trivial in comparison. But, the passing of one of skiing’s legends is inarguably the biggest news of the week, so we had no choice but to put it at the top of this week’s Top Five. With that in mind, we’ll do our best to collect ourselves and get on with the rest of this week’s news.

Next up in that regard is more transportation news coming out of Salt Lake City, where the issue of ski traffic has become a major issue in recent years. As you’re probably well aware at this point, traffic congestion has gotten so bad that the city is seriously considering installing a gondola up one of their most popular canyon roads. With a substantial price tag and fears of using tax money to pay for its completion though, not everyone is particularly excited about the idea. Instead, they would prefer to see a more efficient busing system implemented. Enter this week’s news.

This week, KSL.com is reporting that the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has announced a reduction in planned bus routes ahead of the 2022-2023 winter. Part of this reduction is the elimination of 3 routes, one of which is a ski bus from Midvale to Snowbird and Alta, which are both located in Little Cottonwood Canyon, the site of the proposed gondola. Another eliminated route is one of two seasonal ski buses that run from Salt Lake to Park City. In addition to these cancellations, other ski bus routes will be reduced from 15 minute intervals to 30 minute intervals. At a time when the public hopes to see more public transport, this seems like a weird move, right? Well, here’s the thing: these changes aren’t coming about because the UTA wants to decrease their bus service. Instead, it’s because they’re down 65 drivers in Salt Lake County, and another 20 in Weber County. In other words, they simply don’t have enough bus operators to continue offering their full menu of routes.

This of course brings us back to the gondola issue. So far, from what we can tell, the backlash to the gondola project has been due to the cost of the project. Rather than shelling out over half a billion dollars on a permanent fixture, local taxpayers would understandably prefer to see the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) explore more busing options. In fact, when we last checked in on this story, the plan was to offer enhanced bussing this winter while the gondola project continues to be debated. With this week’s news however, a new wrinkle has been introduced to the conversation as improved bussing is really only an option if the workforce is there. One area where the gondola concept undoubtedly has the upperhand is in regards to the employee to uphill capacity ratio- a concept which we’ve only just realized this week. On that note, we’ll simply point out that this story continues to grow in questions and complexity while the perfect answer remains a mystery. To learn more about this week’s news, check in with KSL.com.

#3: Vail Shares 2022 Annual Earnings Report. Spoiler Alert, They Made a Ton of Money:

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Our third highlight this week will likely split our readership in half, with some of you drooling over the nerdy financial details it contains, while the rest of you experience what’s known as “eye glaze,” where boredom leads to a thin layer of liquid developing over your eyes, causing our words to blur. If the idea of financial reports and business talk makes you feel like you might be at risk of landing in the second category, feel free to skip ahead- we won’t be offended. For the rest of you, keep reading as Vail has just released their 2022 fiscal report, as well as their earnings call.

First, let’s cover the highlights. For the 2022 fiscal year ending July 31, 2022, Vail reported EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of $836.9 million, an increase of $292.2 million over last year’s figure of $544.7 million. In tandem with this statistic are the reported net earnings for 2022, which came in at $347.9, compared to 2021’s total of $127.9 million; a $220 million increase. In other words, in the first year that felt post-pandemic, Vail came roaring back, spearheaded in large part due to a significant increase in sales of their season pass products which ultimately accounted for approximately 72% of the company’s North American visitorship.

While the earnings report released by Vail includes all of the balance sheets and financial breakdowns you could ever need, perhaps a more interesting and digestible way for a lot of us to take in this information is by reading through the earning’s call transcript, conveniently provided by The Motley Fool. Because Vail is a publicly traded company, they’re required to release this information and the transcript of this call for their investors and potential investors. As a result, we have access to a financial earnings report that’s dialogue based and not strictly spreadsheets. To be fair, there is a ton of great information in this call as investors are able to pry into the strategies, reasonings, and forecasts behind these numbers. Due to the volume of content within this call, we can’t cover all of the highlights, but we do want to bring attention to one trend that came up that some investors took note of: between August 1, 2022 and September 23, 2022 (the period between the start of the year and 5 days before the call), “Epic and Epic Local Pass products were down approximately 10% in units versus the prior-year period after seeing growth of over 50% in the comparable prior-year period.” In other words, after experiencing astronomical growth over the course of the last two years, the start of the 2023 fiscal year is seeing a decrease in Epic Pass sales in two of its largest products. There is a ton to unpack there, and investors on the call made sure to ask Vail CEO Kirsten Lynch for more information, but we simply don’t have the space to cover the answer in full. For that, we highly recommend giving the full transcript a read.

#4: U.S. Alpine Athlete Nina O’Brien Given the Go Ahead to Return to Snow:

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Finally, let’s end this week with an article from SkiRacing.com that brings us up to speed with rising U.S. Alpine Ski racer Nina O’Brien. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about ski racing, but if you can think back to last winter’s Olympics in Beijing, you might recall that Nina O’Brien crashed hard in the giant slalom race after a promising start. In that crash, O’Brien suffered a brutal left leg injury consisting of a compound tibia fracture, broken fibula, and talus fracture.

This week, in the article from SkiRacing.com, we learn more of the details regarding the injury and the medical processes required to piece O’Brien’s leg back together. To be honest, some of the details aren’t for the faint of heart, so if this type of medical talk interests you, head on over to the article itself to learn more. What we will discuss here however, are O’Brien’s current status and her goals for the season ahead- both of which are much easier on the stomach. First, the big news: Nina O’Brien has been cleared to get back on skis! At first, this will mean spending time at an indoor facility in Belgium, performing simple maneuvers while she regains her strength and full range of motion. In a few weeks, O’Brien plans to link up with the team on snow in Europe where she’ll ease her way back into training, starting with a freeskiing regiment focused on slowly bringing her up to speed again. As for her ambitions for the season ahead? Well, let’s just say she’s being smart about it, and giving herself the time she needs to get back on track. While her ultimate goal is to come back better than ever, she realizes it might take time to get there, saying, “Racing Soelden seems aggressive, so we’ll take it day-by-day and see how I feel.” All told, we’re just excited to hear that she’s back on snow with plans to resume her competitive ways. For more on this, check out the article from SkiRacing.com.

#5: And Now, Your Edits of the Week: In Honor of Hilaree Nelson, Rewatch the Story of Her Summit & Descent of Lhotse:

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Cody Townsend’s “The Fifty Season 4” is Dedicated to Hilaree. Here’s the Trailer:

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Watch What Happens When 20 Line Athletes Meet Up in Crans Montana for a Shoot in “Chicken Sedan”:

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Finally, Inglorious Bandits is 36 Minutes and 31 Seconds of High Octane, Youthful Energy and We Love it:

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*** Warning: along with youthful energy comes spicy language, juvenile jokes, and questionable antics. Viewer beware! ***

Written by Matt McGinnis on 09/30/22