Army Vet Jim Whittaker, First American on Everest, Dies at 97

Everyone needs heroes. Exceptional people remind us of the best we can be; they make us aspire to do more, to push harder, to achieve.

America lost one such hero recently. Army veteran Jim Whittaker, the first American to ever reach the summit of Mt. Everest, has passed away at the age of 97.

Jim Whittaker, the Army veteran and mountaineer who became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest, died Tuesday at his home in Port Townsend, Washington. He was 97.
Whittaker died peacefully with his wife, Dianne Roberts, and other family members at his side, according to a statement from the family released by his son Leif.
His 1963 ascent of the world's tallest peak made him an overnight celebrity, earned him a meeting with President John F. Kennedy and launched a decades-long career that helped transform the American outdoor recreation industry. But before any of that, Whittaker was a U.S. soldier, drafted into the Army during the Korean War and assigned to train some of the military's best troops in the mountains of Colorado.

Climbing mountains was something that Whittaker and his brother, Lou, had been involved with since they were young men. It seems "because it was there" was good enough reason to make any such attempt.

Whittaker and his twin brother, Lou, were born Feb. 10, 1929, and grew up in the Arbor Heights neighborhood of West Seattle. They discovered climbing as teenagers through the Boy Scouts and the Mountaineers, a Seattle-based outdoor club, according to a tribute posted by the organization.
By 16, the brothers had summited Mount Olympus, the highest peak in Washington's Olympic Mountains at 7,965 feet. In his memoir, "A Life on the Edge," Whittaker recalled that when they reached the town of Port Angeles on the return trip, they found cars honking and people celebrating the end of World War II.

The brothers were drafted into the Army on the outbreak of the Korean War, and Jim ended up at Camp Hale, Colorado, where he put his mountaineering skills to good use training the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division. After his service, in 1955, Jim Whittaker joined the newly-founded outdoor gear company REI as their first employee, turning in a 25 year career that started with stocking shelves and ended up with Mr. Whittaker as President and CEO.

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Then, in 1963, Jim Whittaker took his big shot: Mt. Everest, as the saying goes, was there, and because it was there, Jim Whittaker had to climb it. He did, the first American to do so, only a few years after the first successful ascent.

On May 1, 1963, Whittaker and Sherpa Nawang Gombu reached the summit of Everest, a decade after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first stood on the 29,032-foot peak. The expedition earned Whittaker and his teammates the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, which President Kennedy presented at the White House. Seattle threw a parade in his honor.
The 6-foot-5 Whittaker was a physical force on the mountain. According to the Spokesman-Review, fellow climber John Roskelley of Spokane, who later joined him on a K2 expedition, said that other climbers always talked about how big and strong Whittaker was.

After the ascent and after meeting with President Kennedy, Jim went back to REI, retiring in 1979. His brother Lou passed in 2024 at 95, with two of Jim's sons, Carl and Scott, preceding him in passing. Now Jim has rejoined his brother and sons. He leaves behind his wife Dianne, his sons Bobby, Joss, and Leif, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Jim Whittaker was a remarkable man. His life was filled with adventure, and he used what fame he enjoyed when he came down from the world's highest mountain to push for forest and mountain habitat preservation. More than that, he was a man with great courage and determination. We are poorer for his absence.

RIP, Jim Whittaker.

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