James W. Whittaker (born February 10, 1929), also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American
mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
and
mountain guide
A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...
.
[EverestHistory.com: Jim Whittaker](_blank)
/ref>Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of ...
, on May 1, 1963 he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
as a member of the American Mount Everest Expedition led by Norman Dyhrenfurth
Norman Gunther Dyhrenfurth ( Breslau, today Wroclaw, May 7, 1918 – Salzburg, September 24, 2017) was a German-Swiss-American mountaineer and filmmaker. He was the leader of the successful American Mount Everest Expedition of 1963, which placed ...
, alongside the Sherpa Nawang Gombu (a nephew of Tenzing Norgay
Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; perhaps 29 May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to reach the su ...
). They ran out of oxygen, but managed to reach the summit.
Biography
He is the twin brother of Lou Whittaker, a mountain guide who is often mistakenly credited with achieving the 1963 ascent of Everest. The twins started climbing in their teens in the 1940s while in the Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts may refer to:
* Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement.
* Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement.
* An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are t ...
.West Seattle High School
West Seattle High School (known to students as "Westside") is a comprehensive public high school in Seattle's West Seattle neighborhood that serves grades nine through twelve as part of the Seattle Public Schools.
History and facilities
The s ...
and Seattle University
Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate pro ...
.
On July 25, 1955, Whittaker became the first full-time employee of Recreational Equipment Inc. and was the company's CEO in the 1960s as well as an early board member with American Alpine Club
The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...
president Nicholas Clinch
Nicholas Bayard Clinch III (9 November 1930, Evanston, Illinois - 15 June 2016, California) was an American mountain climber, lawyer, author and environmentalist. Clinch Peak, in Antarctica, was named for him in 2006.
Education and personal life
...
.US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1 million for the first time.
In 1965, with Dee Molenaar
Dee Molenaar (June 21, 1918 – January 19, 2020) was an American mountaineer, author and artist. He is best known as the author of ''The Challenge of Rainier'', first published in 1971 and considered the definitive work on the climbing history ...
and others, he guided Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
up the newly named Mount Kennedy. Kennedy and Whittaker became fast friends and spent multiple vacations together. In 1968, he became Kennedy’s state campaign chairman. When Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles, Whittaker immediately flew over to comfort RFK's wife when her brother in law had to shut off life-support.[Ron Judd]
Robert F. Kennedy and Jim Whittaker’s lofty friendship recounted in SIFF film
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington s ...
, June 6, 2018
In 1990, he led the Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb that brought together climbers from the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
, USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, and China to summit Mount Everest. In addition to putting twenty climbers on the summit, the expedition hauled off a large amount of trash left on the mountain by previous expeditions.
Currently, Whittaker is chairman of the Board of Magellan Navigation
Magellan Navigation, Inc. is an American producer of consumer and professional grade global positioning system receivers, named after Ferdinand Magellan, the first explorer to circumnavigate the globe. Headquartered in San Dimas, California, with ...
, a company that produces handheld global positioning system
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sys ...
(GPS) units.
In 1999 Whittaker released his autobiography, ''A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond''. His younger son, Leif Whittaker, published ''My Old Man and the Mountain: A Memoir'' in 2016, which relates the story of his own summit of Mount Everest, with his parents accompanying him on part of the journey, and with comparisons to his father's Mount Everest experiences.
Whittaker and his wife, Dianne Roberts, live in Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census.
It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition t ...
. Their children are Joss and Leif Whittaker.
Awards and honors
* For being the first American to scale Mount Everest, Whittaker was awarded the Hubbard Medal
The Hubbard Medal is awarded by the National Geographic Society for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. The medal is named for Gardiner Greene Hubbard, first National Geographic Society president. It is made of gold and is tr ...
by United States President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
.
* Big Jim Mountain in Chelan County, Washington
Chelan County (, ) is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 79,074. The county seat and largest city is Wenatchee. The county was created out of Okanogan and Kittitas Counties on March 13, 1899 ...
is named for him.
See also
*List of 20th-century summiters of Mount Everest
Mount Everest, at is currently the world's highest mountain and is a particularly desirable peak for mountaineers. This is a list of people who reached the summit of Mount Everest in the 20th century. Overall about 1,383 people summited Everes ...
References
External links
Jim Whittaker: A Life on the Edge
Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...
, March 21, 2002
Interview with Jim Whittaker (2007)
Sarah Holbrooke interviews Jim Whittaker
by Mountainfilm in Telluride
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, Jim
1929 births
Alpine guides
Living people
American mountain climbers
Mountain climbers from Seattle
American twins
Seattle University alumni
American summiters of Mount Everest
Twin sportspeople
People from Port Townsend, Washington
West Seattle High School alumni