Jim Whittaker, the first American to climb Mount Everest, has died at age 97. The Seattle native made history by summitting the mountain in 1963.
According to CNN, Whittaker passed away at his Washington home on April 7. His family confirmed his death. Whittaker first scaled Mount Everest on May 1, 1963. He was 34 at the time.
"I didn't realize what impact [the climb] would have," Whittaker previously said. "I didn't think it would catch the imagination of the public as much as it did."
Mount Everest Adventurer Dies
He also released A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond in 2000 to tell his life story.
"I was sitting at the South Summit at about 300 vertical feet from the top and looking at the Hillary Step, I had this vision of my dad and Nawang Gombu Sherpa climbing up there," he said. "It's 50 years earlier and I imagined what that was like without the fixed ropes, without the crowds. Just those two with a single rope connecting them and ascending this incredibly challenging terrain through a storm no less. He didn't let his age and fear of getting hurt stop him from doing what he loved."
Whittaker is survived by his wife, sons, and grandchildren.
