Mt. Everest — 29,028 feet — May 1, 1963
Internationally famous mountaineer, acclaimed keynote speaker and author Jim Whittaker is best known as the first American to summit Mt. Everest, with Sherpa Nawang Gombu on May 1, 1963. His best-selling, award-winning memoir, A Life on the Edge - Memoirs of Everest and Beyond, spans nine decades of American mountaineering, plus politics, love, loss, sorrow and joy.