PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend native Leif Whittaker reached the summit of Mount Everest and is on his way down, his parents said Tuesday.
Whittaker reached the summit at about 7 p.m. PDT Monday, said his mother, Dianne Roberts of Port Townsend.
That’s 7 a.m. Tuesday Nepal time.
“I’m as happy as any parent can be when their child reaches a goal,” Roberts said. “But I’ll feel a lot better when he gets to base camp.”
Whittaker, 25, is following in the footsteps of his father, Jim Whittaker, the first American to scale the 29,029-foot peak, who reached the summit in 1963.
“Party on TOP!” said a posting from Mark Tucker at the base camp at 6:55 p.m. Monday PST on www.rmiguides.com/dispatches/ everest10.php#top.
“Congratulations to the RMI Team! Dave, Leif, Seth, Casey, Michael, Scott, Tendi, Tshering Dorjee, Dawa Jamba, Da Gyldjen, Nima Tenji, Pasang Temba. On top of the world. All are doing well.”
RMI has just reported that Leif Whittaker has stepped onto the summit of Mount Everest.
“It was the culmination of a lifelong dream, and the fulfillment of a family legacy,” said a posting on http://blog.firstascent.com/.
“Forty-seven years ago, on May 1, 1963, Leif’s father, Jim, became the first American to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain.
“Leif departed Seattle on March 24 to begin a journey retracing his father’s historic footsteps and establishing his own in the storied Khumbu Valley of the high Himalaya.
“Accompanied by First Ascent guides Dave Hahn and Seth Waterfall, photographer Michael Brown and a team of Sherpa, Whittaker radioed from the summit.
“Dave accomplished his own significant milestone today, becoming the first non-Sherpa in history to summit Everest 12 times.”
An hour at summit
Leif Whittaker spent just under an hour at the summit, his father said.
“When I went up, we stayed at the top for just a few minutes and then headed down,” Jim Whittaker said. “But Leif had good weather, so he was able to stay longer.”
Roberts said that Leif called home early Tuesday, Port Townsend time, a few hours into his descent, using a satellite phone.
Leif’s expedition team spent its time on the summit taking photos of the scenery and each other, according to his father, “to prove they were there.”
Technological changes
Both of these instances demonstrated the drastic technological changes since Jim Whittaker’s expedition.
In 1963, climbers could only make short, static-filled calls from base camp, and shoot their pictures on film.
“We had to have runners take our film to base camp and it had to be shipped out to be developed,” Jim Whittaker said. “It would be a couple of weeks before we saw the shots. “
Leif’s expedition has portable still photography and video equipment, gathering enough content to produce a documentary and is immediately viewable.
Jim Whittaker said he doesn’t know how many pictures were taken or how they will be used, but it could result in a book.
“Leif’s a wonderful writer,” he said. “I expect that he will publish something from this.”
As for the future, Jim Whittaker expects his son will do something oriented to the outdoors.
“He has accomplished one of his long term goals,” Jim Whittaker said. “I don’t know what he will do next.”
His son’s date of return to Port Townsend is undetermined but could be in about a week.
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
