Teton Village resident Kit DesLauriers became the first woman to ski from the summit of Mount Everest when she carved historic turns Wednesday.

DesLauriers reached the summit of Everest at 11 a.m. local time, strapped on her skis, and was safe at the South Col less than four and a half hours later.

Dispatches from expedition organizer Berg Adventures International posted on the outfitters' Web site confirmed DesLauriers’ safe descent from the 29,305-foot peak. Operations manager for the company, Shelley Freeman, confirmed the descent in a telephone interview from Canmore, Alberta, Canada Wednesday evening.

“We know that Kit did ski, but we’re not sure of any of the details,” Freeman said. “I think the reason is they are really tired.”

Wally Berg, owner of the guide service that organized the trip for DesLauriers, her husband Rob, Jackson photographer Jimmy Chin and others, passed on the news from Everest Base Camp, including quotes via radio from Sherpas on the summit.

“Now we are hearing excitedly from some of the Sherpas, ‘Kit is putting on her skis,’” one of Berg’s dispatches read. “Here we go. This is history, folks.”

DesLauriers would have to continue down from the 25,938-foot-high South Col, across and down the Lhotse Face, through the Western Cwm and the Khumbu Icefall to reach base camp at about 17,500 feet to complete the descent. That effort was planned for today.

“Tomorrow holds more of an historic descent for this exceptional team,” Berg said on the Web site bergadventures.com on Wednesday. “The Lhotse Face awaits!”

Berg appears cautious not to count his chickens too soon. After congratulating guide Dave Hahn on his eighth Everest summit, the guide corrected Berg and said he had only reached seven and a half – meaning the descent still had to be completed.

While dangers still remain for the team, Kit and Rob DesLauriers and Chin all skied part of the Lhotse Face earlier in the expedition to acclimate to altitude and conditions. Berg seemed assured that the crew would be up to the task.

“I am confident this crew will do fine,” he reported on the Web site. “They need the rest they will get tonight, but tomorrow holds more adventure, more turns – weary legs and spent lungs descending deeper into thicker air where they belong...”

The valley residents were part of a party of 14 climbers and Sherpas who were the first team to summit in the post-monsoon season in four years. The fall is considered the best time of year to attempt a ski descent of the peak.

Berg said the day was arduous. “It was a long descent for a team that had been moving continuously above 8,000 meters for between 15 and 18 hours,” he reported.

Alpinists consider terrain above 8,000 meters – 26,246 feet – the “death zone” where mountaineers venture only temporarily.

Kit DesLauriers beat the climbers back to the South Col by as much as an hour and a half.

In October 2003, high winds and poor weather thwarted Seattle native Maegan Carney’s bid to become the first woman to ski Everest. She had encouraged DesLauriers on her bid.

Berg wrote that the team should have a restful night, as two Sherpas had worked to stock the South Col camp and keep it intact. “I know 16 people who will sleep very well tonight – even at 8,000 meters,” he wrote.

Kit and Rob DesLauriers have made ski descents from the highest points on at least four of the world’s seven continents, skiing Denali in April 2004 and Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe, in June 2005. In December 2005, Kit made a first ski descent of the Polish Glacier on 22,834-foot Aconcagua in Argentina and along with Rob skied 16,607-foot Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

The expedition was the DesLauriers’ first Everest attempt, while Chin was making his third trip to the peak. He summitted via the same route with filmmaker David Breshears in 2004. In 2003, dangerous snow conditions forced Chin and snowboard mountaineer Stephen Koch to turn back during an ambitious bid on the north side of the peak without supplemental oxygen. An earlier dispatch reported that the climbers on this trip planned to use supplemental oxygen.

– Michael Pearlman contributed to this report.