Jim Whittaker, First American Climber To Scale Mt. Everest, Dies At 97 - Beritaja

For 20 minutes of his life, Jim Whittaker was connected apical of the world.

He was the first American to acme Mt. Everest, reaching the highest constituent connected Earth connected May 1, 1963, pinch Sherpa Nawang Gombu.

“We were opinionated successful the pitchy stream, connected the separator of space,” Whittaker wrote successful his 1999 memoir, “A Life connected the Edge.”

He returned location a hero, pinch his image connected the screen of Life magazine, a White House fete and unexpected celebrity. And though life disconnected the upland didn’t ever spell smoothly, he disdained regret.

“If you instrumentality your cervix out, whether it’s by climbing mountains aliases speaking up for thing you judge in, your likelihood of winning are astatine slightest fifty-fifty,” he wrote. “On the different hand, if you ne'er instrumentality your cervix out, your likelihood of losing are beautiful adjacent to 100%.”

An adventurer until the end, Whittaker died Tuesday astatine his location successful Port Townsend, Wash., his boy Leif confirmed to the New York Times. Whittaker was 97. .

Robert F. Kennedy, left, stands atop Mt. Kennedy aft placing a achromatic emblem successful memorial to his precocious brother, President John F. Kennedy, adjacent to, from left, Jim Whittaker, William Allard, and George Senner, March 24, 1965, successful Yukon, Canada.

(Doug Wilson / Associated Press)

He was 34 erstwhile he scaled Everest, a feat that shaped overmuch of the remainder of his life. His Washington authorities licence sheet publication 29028, the mostly accepted tallness of Everest erstwhile he climbed it. (GPS surveys later put it astatine about 29,035 feet.)

He was chosen for the expedition by its leader, Swiss mountaineer Norman Dyhrenfurth, because of his acquisition successful climbing nether icy conditions, including galore summits of Mt. Rainier adjacent his Seattle-area home.

But Everest, first scaled successful 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was a acold much formidable and vulnerable beast. And moreover if the Dyhrenfurth expedition was successful, only a chosen fewer of its 19 squad members would scope the top. Still, Whittaker thought his chances were good.

“I’d trained hard, put 60 pounds of bricks successful my backpack,” he told National Geographic Adventure mag successful 2003. “I swam successful Lake Sammamish successful wintertime to build up to the acold we would encounter.

“I didn’t cognize anyone who was successful amended shape.”

On only the 2nd time of the group’s climb from guidelines camp, calamity struck erstwhile a elephantine conception of an icefall — a glacier statement resembling a stiff waterfall — shifted, crushing squad personnel Jake Breitenbach.

“I had told everyone backmost location that Everest was not a difficult climb technically; the only problem was the deficiency of oxygen and the weather,” Whittaker wrote successful “Life connected the Edge.” “Now it had killed 1 of us, and we’d only conscionable begun.”

Because the only measurement to get backmost to guidelines campy was via that icefall, Whittaker chose to enactment supra it connected the upland for 5 dependable weeks arsenic much camps were established up Everest. He mislaid 25 pounds and a sizeable magnitude of spot owed to the bladed air.

Still, he was successful amended information than galore of the different climbers, and Dyhrenfurth chose him for the last assault. He and Gombu near the past campy successful the mediate of a windstorm, pinch a scant proviso of oxygen.

How difficult was it to breathe? “Put a pillow connected your face, tally about the block, and effort and suck oxygen done that pillow,” he said. It was truthful cold, 1 of his eyeballs froze, making it unusable.

Reaching the acme aft respective hours, they stayed only agelong capable to return pictures and works flags arsenic 50-mph winds whipped about them.

“When you are up there, you are not ecstatic, you are not afraid,” he told the Los Angeles Times successful 2013. “You’re really not anything. But successful the backmost of your mind, you cognize 1 thing: You gotta get off. Half of the climb is getting up, the different half is getting down.”

James Whittaker was calved connected Feb. 10, 1929, successful Seattle, about 10 minutes earlier the commencement of Louie, his copy brother. As the boys grew up, they took to rough-housing about the house, overmuch to the chagrin of their mother.

“I judge that bid to ‘Go extracurricular and play’ is what started Louie and maine connected the way we person taken each since,” Whittaker wrote.

He was progressive successful Boy Scouts and arsenic a teen joined a mountaineering nine that sponsored climbs connected the adjacent Olympic and Cascade ranges. He tested himself connected progressively higher peaks, relishing moments specified arsenic breaking done unreality layers.

“I deliberation quality is simply a awesome teacher,” he told the Seattle Times successful 2013. “Being successful quality that measurement is simply a bully measurement to find retired who the hellhole you are.”

After finishing West Seattle High School, Whittaker went connected to Seattle University, graduating successful 1952. He was promptly drafted into the Army, but his mountaineering acquisition led him to beryllium assigned to the Mountain and Cold Weather Training Command successful Colorado alternatively of combat work successful Korea.

In 1955, he became the first full-time worker of the Recreational Equipment Cooperative (later called REI) erstwhile it was housed successful a 20-by-30-foot abstraction supra a Seattle restaurant. In his first year, he expanded the co-op’s offerings into skis instrumentality and introduced caller concepts — specified arsenic opening connected Saturday mornings truthful customers could prime up instrumentality for play trips — that boosted sales.

Jim Whittaker, shown present April 12, 1975 successful Seattle, shows disconnected immoderate of the cogwheel he will beryllium taking erstwhile he leads a nine-member American expedition to climb K2, a 28,741 feet precocious upland connected the China-Pakistan border.

(Associated Press)

Because of his relationship to the co-op, he was appointed instrumentality coordinator of the Everest climb, and REI agreed to support him connected the payroll during the expedition.

In July 1963, he and different members of the Everest team, including Gombu, were presented the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society — which partially sponsored the expedition — by President Kennedy, 4 months earlier the president was assassinated.

Two years later, Whittaker led a climb up Mt. Kennedy, a about 14,000-foot Canadian highest named for JFK, pinch Sen. Robert F. Kennedy successful the climbing party. The 2 men forged a adjacent relationship that extended to the wider Kennedy clan. In consequent years, Whittaker went connected skis vacations pinch the Kennedys, was a impermanent astatine the family compound successful Hyannis Port, Mass., and hosted gatherings successful Seattle that included upland climbing.

Whittaker organized Robert Kennedy’s 1968 statesmanlike run efforts successful the Pacific Northwest and said to him by telephone only minutes earlier the campaigner was fatally changeable successful Los Angeles. Whittaker caught a formation to L.A. and was astatine the senator’s infirmary bedside erstwhile he died and past served arsenic a pallbearer astatine the funeral.

In mountaineering, Whittaker was intimately progressive successful much high-profile ventures. He led a 1975 expedition up the world’s second-highest mountain, K2, that grounded to scope the top. His return expedition successful 1978 was successful, though he chose not to spell to the acme himself.

That aforesaid year, he decided to discontinue REI, partially because of clash pinch the co-op’s board. He had been president and main executive since 1971, and erstwhile he left, the co-op was a $46-million business pinch much than 700 employees.

Jim Whittaker throws retired the ceremonial first transportation earlier a shot crippled betwixt the Mariners and the Angels successful 2013.

(Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

Income from an endorsement statement helped support him financially sound, but an finance successful a caller outdoor cogwheel institution proved to beryllium a disaster. The financial irregularities of a partner, who was convicted of felony slope fraud, doomed the venture, and Whittaker was near holding the financial bag.

He was about wiped retired but sewage backmost connected his financial footing erstwhile a task capitalist asked him successful 1986 to beryllium president of the board, pinch banal options, of a caller institution called Magellan. It was a pioneer successful GPS user electronics and holds galore patents successful the field.

Appropriately, Whittaker called 1 of the chapters midway done his book “Roller Coaster.” But he vanished it pinch “Life Well Lived.”

“If you aren’t surviving connected the edge,” he wrote, “you’re taking up excessively overmuch space.”

Whittaker is survived by his wife, Dianne Roberts, and children Bobby, Joss and Leif.

Colker is simply a erstwhile Times unit writer.