Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mount Everest, died on Tuesday, April 7, at the age of 97. The celebrated mountaineer died at his home in Port Townsend, Washington, according to his family.
“Whether at home, in the mountains, or at sea, he sought to share adventure, joy, and optimism with those around him,” the family said in a statement emailed to the Associated Press (AP).
“His warmth, humility, and belief in the power of nature to bring people together left an enduring legacy of care for our planet and for one another.”
In an 1980 interview, Whittaker said that he hoped to “die in my sleep with the television on”.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Dianne Roberts; sons Bob, Joss and Leif Whittaker; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Who is Jim Whittaker – the mountaineer?
Jim Whittaker was the first American to ascend Everest, alongside Nawang Gombu, in 1963. His summit came 10 years after the pioneering climb of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
His feat helped generate an interest in mountaineering in the US and eventually an industry. Soon after, Whittaker, the once-shy, rangy climber, became an instant celebrity — he featured on magazine covers and was in demand for public appearances.
Jim Whittaker led many additional climbs, including the 1990 Mount Everest International Peace Climb, which brought together climbers from the US, the Soviet Union and China “to demonstrate what could be accomplished through cooperation and goodwill”, the family statement said.
“Jim was a lifelong advocate for peace and believed deeply in the ability of shared challenges in the natural world to unite people across borders and ideologies,” it said.
Jim Whittaker — employee to CEO
Whittaker, who served as the first full-time employee of the outdoor retailer REI in 1995, went on to lead the business as its president and CEO from 1971 to 1979.
The company’s popularity surged after Whittaker’s Everest climb, with its membership growing from nearly 250,000 to more than 900,000 during his tenure, REI noted in a statement.
Whittaker has been credited for helping establish North Cascades National Park and the Pasayten Wilderness in Washington, as well as the Redwood National Park in California.
“Long before outdoor advocacy was commonplace, Jim gave his voice – and his leadership – to protecting the places we love, reminding us that wild places endure only if we choose to care for them,” the statement said.
The Kennedy connection
Jim Whittaker’s celebrity status brought him into the orbit of the Kennedy clan.
He soon became a close friend of , with whom he climbed a 14,000-foot (4,267 metres) Canadian peak. The peak was later named Mount Kennedy after the presidential contender’s murder in 1968.
Whittaker was reportedly at Kennedy’s bedside when he died and was devastated by the assassination.
Early climbing days
Jim Whittaker grew up in Seattle and began climbing with his twin brother, Lou Whittaker, in the 1940s with the Boy Scouts. At 16, the twins summited 7,965-foot (2,428-metre) Mount Olympus, the highest peak in the Olympic Mountains west of .
Reflecting on the beauty and danger of his sport, Jim Whittaker once said: “When you live on the edge, you can see a little farther.”
His achievements on the remote, snowy slopes of and nearby K2, the world’s second-tallest peak, assured him a niche in the record books.
Lou, who decided to skip the 1963 Everest expedition to open a sporting goods store in Tacoma, said he still got to share some of his twin’s glory by filling in when Jim got tired of attending parades or other events in his honour.
“Only our families and closest friends ever knew the difference,” he wrote in his own book, ‘Lou Whittaker: Memoirs of a Mountain Guide’.
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Lou Whittaker died in 2024 at age 95.
Jim Whittaker’s proudest moments
Jim Whittaker said one of his proudest moments was in 1981, when he led 10 handicapped climbers up 14,410-foot Mount Rainier.
For them, he later said, “that was Mount Everest”.
Whittaker, who had scaled Mount Rainier more than 100 times, noted that the caprices of the weather, even on a comparatively modest mountain, “can turn a good climber into a beginner” in a matter of hours.
Former Washington governor Jay Inslee called Whittaker’s legacy “just as impressive, and just as lasting, as Mount Rainier itself”.
“He pulled many a climber up the peak,” Inslee wrote in a social media post Wednesday. “He did the same for all our spirits. He still does.”
(With PTI inputs)
