Jim Whittaker, Seattle native and first American to summit Everest, dies at 97

Celebrated mountaineer Jim Whittaker has passed away at the age of 97 in Port Townsend. He was the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1963 and inspired generations of climbers. He was also an 82-year member of Seattle-based club, The Mountaineers.

Kim Malcolm spoke with Tom Vogel, the current CEO of The Mountaineers, about Whittaker's life and legacy.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: Tell us a little bit about what Jim aimed for and what he accomplished.

Tom Vogle: I have known Jim personally for about the last 10 years, but I have always admired just his zest for life and the way that he put big goals out there and went after them. And certainly his vision of going on from learning to climb and starting to guide on Mount Rainier to being the first American on the summit of Mount Everest was one of those audacious goals that he put out there and ultimately accomplished.

Reaching the peak of Mount Everest today is still an incredibly dangerous journey, but can you give us an idea of just how much harder it would have been back in 1963?

Well, I can only imagine because I've never actually climbed Mount Everest. But even having climbed big peaks here in the Pacific Northwest, like Mount Rainier, it's remarkable to me to think about what they accomplished in the 1960s with their gear. At the time, there was just a lot less known about the route, they didn't have satellite communications, they didn't have GPS. Their clothing was not as warm and as waterproof as it is today. And if you got into trouble, it was a lot harder to get help. Climbing Mount Everest these days is still a really dangerous and difficult thing, but back in the 1960s, it was a whole different game.

Jim was also the first full-time employee of REI, a place where you also worked. Can you tell us a little bit about his reputation there?

Yeah, it's something that I share with Jim, having been a past employee of the co-op. I think when he joined the co-op it was a much smaller organization. They only had one store in Seattle and, like today, REI was really centered around connecting people with the outdoors and doing so through outfitting and expertise. So I think it was a very good fit with Jim's lifestyle, his passion and his interest in helping people to connect with the natural world.

Can you tell us a little bit more about that? His desire to connect people to the natural world? Was that really where his happy place was?

I certainly have had conversations with Jim about just how important it was to him throughout his life to inspire young people to get into the outdoors and spend time in the mountains and make opportunities for all people and bring them together. A great example of that was the 1990 International Peace Climb that Jim helped to organize between the U.S., Russia, and China. I think he was a deep believer that we're all our best selves when we're in the outdoors. And I think the peace climb was a great example where he was trying to bring together this really diverse group of people to inspire that we can work together across nations in a lot of other ways as well.

I know he had a reputation for being calm under pressure but I'm wondering if you can share a little bit about what kind of person Jim was when he wasn't summiting Mount Everest or doing other legendary exploits?

In my experience, Jim is one of those people that's extremely warmhearted. He's very family focused. He's got a terrific sense of humor, and he was just the kind of person that people wanted to be around. He had this magnetic personality that I think drew folks together. Some of the big expeditions that he led was his way of bringing people together and creating alignment around a goal and that was one of the reasons why he was successful.