Jim Whittaker

Born 1929-02-10 · Seattle, WA, USA

Died 2026-04-07

James Warren Whittaker was an American climber and mountain guide. On May 1, 1963, he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest as a member of the American Mount Everest Expedition led by Norman Dyhrenfurth, alongside the Sherpa Nawang Gombu, a nephew of Tenzing Norgay. They ran out of oxygen, but managed to reach the summit.