May 1st was one of the most relieving and exciting days of Jim Whittaker’s life. It was the day he became the first American to stand on the 29,028 peak of Mount Everest.
At just 37 years old, Jim Whittaker summited Everest. Little did he know, that before his 40th birthday, he would have battled and conquered the most fearsome Mountain.
In 1960, Jim received an invitation to join the first U.S. expedition up the treacherous Mount Everest. The team officially started in 1963. The dangerous expedition took little over 4 months.
They endured brutal winds, the theft of their oxygen tank, and the terrible death of Jake Breitenbach. Some of the sherpas that were heading back down to the base camp, took most of the oxygen tanks. Jim and his sherpa Nawang Gombu were left with three tanks of
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Jims left eye filmed over because of how strong and fast the wind was. He only spent 20 minutes up at the top. In those 20 minutes, he drove the American flag into the top of the icy peak. Then he had to think of getting down.
When he hit the bottom of Everest, he went back to his hometown of Seattle. He was celebrated with a parade. Also a ceremony was held at Rose Garden with president Kennedy and John Glenn.
He wasn’t done after his horrific climb up Everest. After his climb, he visited Everest several other times. Then, at age 60, he lead an International Peace Climb. He also climbed Mount Baker with his two youngest sons. Finally, his last climb was up Mount Rainier at age 81. But he could only make it halfway because his knees were to sore, to move anymore. Which his pretty far for an 81 year old.
After his 1st climb up Mount Everest, his wife asked him(as soon as he hit the ground)”Would you do it again if you had the chance”. Jim answered” As long as you get a chopper for the way down”. But at a miraculous age of 84, Jim is still living and talking about his adventurous trip up the treacherous Mount
Chapter 7: In chapter 7 Krakauer talks about how Everest has changed from a professionals trek to anyone's trek. He explains that many inexperienced people have climbed Mount Everest with the help of sherpas and guides. He also mentions about the determination of Everest and how in some instances in history people who weren't allowed into Tibet or Nepal but they snuck in and managed to climb and summit Everest
In the memoir Within Reach: My Everest Story by Mark Pfetzer and Jack Galvin, the author Mark Pfetzer is faced with an extremely amazing yet scary challenge of climbing Mount Everest. Each event is the story has something to do with the nature that is around them at that moment but Pfetzer shows the readers that nature can be a way of life.
to Alaska and was in the frontier. Unfortunately he was unable to survive, dieing of starvation.
In the story “Sharon Wood: No Limits,” by Sharon Wood, the author describes Woods experience on Mount Everest. In the story Wood overcomes many obstacles to achieve her goal. She had to handle the extreme cold weather along with the heavy bags they had to carry. Due to lack of oxygen they also needed to carry oxygen tanks with themselves. It requires a lot of strength and determination to climb one of the tallest mountains in the world. Sharon Wood was an inspirational, and discipline woman. Finally, only Wood and her climbing partner, Dwayne Congdon, made it to the top. Rest of the team did not have enough ability to make it to the top. After all the struggle Wood went through; she had finally reached the top of Mount Everest. This was
He returned back to the United States and he had more cameras on him then a movie star. He was on top of the world then tragedy struck. He was at home one night with his wife...
American history is accompanied by a long list of explorers who first discovered and who explored the massive continent. All of the explorers had an impact on the development of America. The Lewis and Clark expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, stands prominently at the top part of this list. The Lewis and Clark Expedition has had a significant political, social, and economic effect on America. They were the first to map out the west and set off westward expansion. Without the success of the expedition growth of America would have taken five times as long, as predicted by Thomas Jefferson.
Have you ever wanted to prove to everyone that you are a hard worker that is willing to give up everything to go on an adventure? If this is you than Everest is the perfect place for you. A great deal of Everest’s dangers are expressed in his book which should either inspire you to try this journey or sway you away from the treacherous mountain. In the story, “ Into Thin Air,” by Jon Krakauer a true story is told of a dangerous voyage up and down Everest. The climb up was arduous and long according to Jon, but the climbers sacrificed everything to get to the top, which most of the climbers achieved. However, emotions shifted when a storm swooped in and killed many of the climbers that were stuck on the summit, around 12-19 in total. The devices
Mount Everest is one of the most dangerous extreme environments that require lots of experience, knowledge and
In 1914, a great leader began a great expedition, unbeknownst to him that instead of being known as great explorers, they would be known as some of the greatest survivors. This man was Sir Ernest Shackelton and he was determined to be the first to cross the Antarctic. Little did he know, his biggest challenge would end up being his ability to lead his team to survival. He also had no idea that their tale of strength, determination, and courage to survive would influence people well into the 21st century, and the book detailing their stories would be used as a model of leadership. As our group read this book, it was evident that Shackleton was a truly motivated and successful leader as we have come to understand one to be. His ability to successfully lead a team played a significant role in their survival.
Climbing Mt. Everest is an accomplishment that only a limited number of people can say they have accomplished. Despite statistics that illustrate most fail or die trying, numerous people are drawn to the mountain each year and truly believe they can be among that elite group. In the spring of 1996, Jon Krakauer, a journalist for the adventure magazine Outside and a passionate climber himself, was offered the opportunity to climb Mt. Everest. The original offer was to join an Adventure Consultants team led by Rob Hall, a respected and well known guide, climb to base camp and then write a story on the commercialism that had penetrated this incredibly risky but addicting sport. Without much hesitation Krakauer accepted the offer but not to just go to base camp; he wanted the top. The expedition started out as predicted but an unexpected storm the day of the summit push turned this expedition into the most devastating expedition of all time. Krakauer was changed for life; an article on the commercialism surrounding the mountain would no longer suffice. Into Th...
Josh, Peak’s father, was the most selfish of all. Peak and Josh never had much of a connection. Josh had always been focused on his business, Peak Experience, until he had a window of opportunity. Peak’s arrest was the perfect time for him to promote his company. Josh’s plan was to have Peak summit Everest and break the world record as the youngest person to ever reach the peak of Mount Everest.
...leaving eerie remains. All the animals died. He went into retirement and wrote an autobiography. The public ate it up. He also struck up a friendship with Nancy Fish, who was 40 years younger then him, when he was still living with his wife. In 1871 he ended his retirement.
Everest is an unbelievable mountain that has taken the lives of a number of the greatest climbers in history. It was my job to ensure that clients make it up that treacherous mountain safely. My name is Rob Hall. I was the main guide and cofounder of a climbing company called Adventure Consultants. My friend, Gary Ball, and I used to be professional climbers. Together we succeeded in climbing to the highest summit on each of the seven continents in seven months. This was our greatest achievement. After this, we decided to start our own company guiding clients up large mountains. In May 1992, we successfully led six clients to the summit of Everest. Unfortunately, Gary died of cerebral edema in October 1993 during an attempt on the world’s sixth-tallest mountain. He died in my arms and the next day I buried him in a crevasse. Despite the pain that his death had caused me, I continued guiding for our company and eventually led thirty-nine climbers to the summit of Everest.
Given the recent Everest tragedy over the weekend with the biggest loss of lives to date, this case study rings particularly poignant. It’s hard to think of a higher-staked situation than making a summit bid for Mount Everest. The responsibility in such a trek weighs heavy on the leader, but does not need to fall on his shoulders alone. Had Fischer been more willing to share credit, fostering a team-oriented environment, he might still be around today to bask in the glory of his ambitious undertaking.
By 4 PM we had conquered most of the peaks. As we were climbing what we thought was our sixth peak, Big Red, a storm struck. It was a cold driving rain that froze us as we struggled up the mountain. We reached the top jubilant, but exhausted. As the crew tried to get a bearing I came to the slow realization that we were not on Big Red, but another peak. We had two peaks to climb, and in freezing rain! With no options, we hiked on.