Jim Wickwire (born June 8, 1940) was the first American to summit K2, the second highest mountain in the world (8,611 m - 28,251 feet). K2 is notable for its steep pyramidal relief, dropping quickly in almost all directions, and the inherent danger in climbing it. Wickwire is also known for surviving an overnight solo bivouac on K2 at an elevation above 27,000 ft/8,200 m; considered "one of the most notorious bivouacs in mountaineering history". Between 1977 and 1982, Wickwire lost four climbing partners to fatal accidents on three separate mountains.
Read more about Jim Wickwire: Early Life, K2: Summit and Bivouac, Crevasse On McKinley, North Face Everest Attempts, Aftermath, Books
Famous quotes containing the word jim:
“Just kids! That’s about the craziest argument I’ve ever heard. Every criminal in the world was a kid once. What does it prove?”
—Theodore Simonson. Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr.. Jim Bird, The Blob, responding to the suggestion that they not lock up the teens pulling the alien “prank,” (1958)