- Jim Whittaker
Infobox Person
name = James Whittaker
image_size = 200px
caption = Jim Whittaker speaking at theComputer History Museum .
birth_date = February 10, 1929 (aged 79)
birth_place =Seattle ,Washington
death_date =
death_place =
education =West Seattle High School Seattle University
occupation =Mountaineer
spouse =
parents =
children =:"This article is about the mountaineer. For the
politician , seeJim Whitaker ."James W. Whittaker, also known as Jim Whittaker (born in
Seattle ,Washington on February 10, 1929 [http://www.everesthistory.com/climbers/whittaker.htm EverestHistory.com: Jim Whittaker] ] ) is an Americanmountaineer .As a member of the
American Mount Everest Expedition (AMEE) 1963 led byNorman Dyhrenfurth , he was the first American to reach the summit ofMount Everest . He summited onMay 1 ,1963 with theSherpa Nawang Gombu (a nephew ofTenzing Norgay ). They ran out of oxygen but managed to reach the summit. Once there, Whittaker planted a US flag at the top.cite news | first=Michael | last=Shnayerson | coauthors= | title=Jim Whittaker, Back on Earth | date=May 2003 | publisher= | url =http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0305/story.html#story_2 | work =National Geographic Adventure Magazine | pages = | accessdate = 2007-05-07 | language = ]He is the twin brother of
Lou Whittaker , a mountain guide who is often mistakenly credited with that achievement.Whittaker graduated from
West Seattle High School andSeattle University .He was the first full-time employee of
Recreational Equipment Inc. and was the company's CEO in the 1960s.Now, Whittaker is chairman of the Board ofMagellan Navigation , a company that produces handheldglobal positioning system (GPS) units.In
1965 he guidedRobert Kennedy up the newly-namedMount Kennedy .He led the
1990 Everest Peace Climb that brought together climbers from theUnited States ,USSR andChina . In addition to putting more than a dozen climbers on the summit, the expedition hauled off a large amount of trash left on the mountain by previous expeditions.In 1999 Whitaker released his autobiography, "A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond".
Awards and honors
*For being the first American to scale Mount Everest, Whittaker was awarded the
Hubbard Medal by United States PresidentJohn F. Kennedy .(This is essentially equivalent to George Mallory's question and answer: "Have we conquered an enemy? None but ourselves," quoted in "Everest: the West Ridge," p. 27. )
References
External links
*http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/media/2002/whittaker.htm
*Interview with Jim Whittaker (2007) http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=&vid=4b543340-5307-4593-83cc-340bb6b2dffe
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