Jim Whittaker

An expedition teammate and Tom Hornbein test oxygen equipment on Mt. Rainier, during the team shakedown, 1962.
Whittaker Family Collection

 Peak of Mt. Everest in background, with Lhotse and Nuptse in front - from Namche Bazaar. Whittaker Family Collection

Jim in REI, assembling equipment for the climb. Whittaker Family Collection

Line of porters on the 185-mile Everest approach march. Willi Unsoeld Photo

Jim posing for the camera at Base Camp with Rainier beer— one of the expedition’s sponsors. Whittaker Family Collection

Cimbers move up the Khumbu Icefall above Base Camp. Whittaker Family Collection

Climber on Tyrolean traverse in the Khumbu Icefall. Whittaker Family Collection

Jake Breitenbach, 27-year-old guide from Jackson, WY, who was killed in the Khumbu Icefall the second day of the climb.
Lila M. Bishop Photo

Camp II in the Western Cwm. Barry C. Bishop Photo

Jim and Sherpa Nawang Gombu at Everest Base Camp. Whittaker Family Collection

Nawang Gombu with Sherpa porters in the background. Whittaker Family Collection

Jim at Camp V in the South Col, the day before the summit climb. Whittaker Family Collection

Everest summit pyramid on the day of the summit climb, with strong winds blowing into Tibet. Whittaker Family Collection

Jim Whittaker, first American on the summit of Mt. Everest: 1:00 PM, May 1, 1963. Nawang Gombu Photo

Nawang Gombu on the summit of Mt. Everest, with the fur ruff of Jim’s parka blowing over the lens. Jim Whittaker Photo

Lute Jerstad gives Jim and Gombu water and oxygen at Camp V on their descent from the summit. Whittaker Family Collection

Willi Unsoeld with frostbitten toes, being carried by a Sherpa on the return march. Whittaker Family Collection

Lute jerstad, with frostbitten toes, with a Sherpani. Whittaker Family Collection

Helicopter evacuation of the injured climbers from above Thengboche. Thomas J. Ambercrombie Photo/National Geographic

The six men who conquered Everest, from national Geographic Magazine, October 1963.  National Geographic

Jim (at right) with (L to R) Sir Ed Hillary, AMEE team leader Norman Dyhrenfurth, and Hillary’s first wife Louise (who later died with their daughter in an airplane crash on their way to Lukla) in the Khumbu Valley on the return march. Whittaker Family Collection

Norman Dyhrenfurth receiving the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden. Jim is the tallest climber, back row. George Mobley Photo/National Geographic

Gombu presents President Kennedy with a khata – a Tibetan friendship scarf. George Mobley Photo/National Geographic

Jim receives the Hubbard Medal from President Kennedy.  George Mobley Photo/National Geographic

East meets west: Jim and Gombu reunited in Seattle one month after the White House ceremony. 
Seattle Post Intelligencer Collection/Museum of History and Industry

Portrait taken in a Seattle studio after the climb. Whittaker Family Collection