Jim Whittaker, first U.S. citizen to summit Everest, dies at 97

April 8 (UPI) -- Jim Whittaker, the first citizen of the United States to reach the top of Mount Everest, died at his home in Port Townsend, Wash., leaving a legacy of mountaineering and outdoorsmanship that stretched for decades both in the Northwest region and throughout the country.

His son Leif said he died Tuesday.

"Seldom do you have one person epitomize the most admired, treasured and inspiring value of a whole state," said Jay Inslee, former governor of Washington, in the Cascadia Daily News, "and that's what Jim Whittaker does."

On May 1, 1963, Whittaker and mountaineer Sherpa Nawang Gombu were the 10th and 11th climbers ever to reach the summit of Everest, 10 years after Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay did so. This was, however, only one point in the middle of Whittaker's long career in the outdoors.

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"He didn't just arrive at the summit and then stay there forever as a shrine to his singular accomplishment," Melissa Arnot Reid, the first U.S. woman to reach the top of Everest without extra oxygen, told the Daily News about Whittaker. "One of the major impacts for me is this idea that no one accomplishment is like your arrival point in adventure. Adventure is the forever unfolding thing that we're always on."

Jim Whittaker and his twin brother Lou were born Feb. 10, 1929, in Seattle. They started climbing and exploring the outdoors as part of the Boy Scouts and the Mountaineers, a Seattle climbing club. When they were 16, the twins reached the summit of Mount Rainier, the highest peak in the Cascade Range of the Northwest. They later worked as guides on the mountain.

In 1955, Jim Whittaker started working at Recreational Equipment Co-op, which later became Recreational Equipment Incorporated -- and now is just called REI. He eventually became president and chief executive in 1971 as the company expanded throughout the country.

Whittaker became friends with Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1965 after guiding an expedition including Kennedy to the top of Mount Kennedy (named for President John F. Kennedy) in Canada. He later helped run Kennedy's presidential campaign-and was a pallbearer at Kennedy's funeral after his assassination. Decades later, The New York Times reported, Whittaker's sons Robert (named for the late senator) and Leif climbed the mountain with Kennedy's son Christopher.

Whittaker wasn't done climbing. In 1990, he led an expedition back to Mount Everest that included climbers from the United States, the Soviet Union and China in a show of peace and international cooperation. He didn't reach the top that time, but about 20 other climbers did.

Whittaker also supported many environmental and conservation endeavors over his lifetime. He is survived by his wife, Dianne Roberts, and sons Joss, Leif and Robert.