James W. Whittaker (born February 10, 1929), also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American
mountaineer and
mountain guide.
[EverestHistory.com: Jim Whittaker](_blank)
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Biography
He is the twin brother of Lou Whittaker
Lou Whittaker (born February 10, 1929) is a mountaineer, mountain guide, and entrepreneur. He and his twin brother, Jim Whittaker, an equally renowned mountaineer and guide, were born and raised in Seattle.
Besides his worldwide mountain cli ...
, 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 ...
.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 prog ...
.
On July 25, 1955, Whittaker became the first full-time employee of Recreational Equipment Inc.
Rei or REI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Rei, a story arc of the anime '' Higurashi When They Cry''
*Rei, a shapeshifting godlike dragon in the Australian webcomic series ''Vainglorious''
*Rei I, II and III, episodes of ''Neon Genesis Ev ...
and was the company's CEO in the 1960s as well as an early board member with American Alpine Club 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
T ...
.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 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, June 6, 2018
In 1990, he led the Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb
The Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb was an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest during Earth Week 1990 led by Jim Whittaker, the first American to climb Mount Everest (in 1963), envisioned by Warren Thompson, and marked the first ...
that brought together climbers from the United States, USSR, and China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
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, 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 sy ...
(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. 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 John F. Kennedy.
* Big Jim Mountain in Chelan County, Washington
Chelan County (, ) is a List of counties in Washington, county in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 79,074. The county seat and largest city is Wenatchee, Washi ...
is named for him.
See also
* List of 20th-century summiters of Mount Everest
References
External links
Jim Whittaker: A Life on the Edge
Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre, 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