Jim Whittaker, first American to climb Everest, dies at 97

SEATTLE — Jim Whittaker, who in 1963 became the first American to reach the top of Mount Everest, has died. He was 97. Whittaker’s 1963 ascent to the summit of Mount Everest came 10 years after Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay first scaled the peak. Whittaker died Tuesday at his home in Port Townsend, … Read more