The setting is an icy ledge on the mountain K2. Two climbers, Taylor and Harold, are stranded at 27,000 feet, and Harold has suffered a broken leg. The premise of the play "K2," which opens on Wednesday, Feb. 14, at the Liberty Theatre, is dramatic. Only a handful of people actually have experienced what these climbers do over the course of the play. One of them, Jim Whittaker, of Seattle, was the first American to summit Mount Everest in 1963. And in 1978, he led the first successful American team to summit K2, the second tallest mountain in the world and considered a more difficult climb. Whittaker also led the historic International Peace Climb on the summit of Everest in the name of world peace in 1990.
Whittaker will speak at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Whittaker's presentation is being held in conjunction with the Company of Fools presentation of "K2." Tickets for the talk are $10 and are available through the Liberty box office during business hours or 578-9122.
Not simply a climber of renown, Whittaker was once the sole employee of a small retail shop formed by a group of climbers called Recreational Equipment, Inc. He went on to become CEO of the business, known more commonly as REI. In 1999, he published his autobiography, "A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond." It was awarded the year 2000 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award for literary excellence in the category of Memoir. Today he is a motivational speaker.
In 1963, following his ascent of Everest, he was awarded the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal by President John F. Kennedy. The meeting led to a deep friendship with the Kennedy family.
After President Kennedy's assassination, Whittaker guided Bobby Kennedy up the newly christened Mount Kennedy in the Yukon Territories, helping him to become the first person to summit the peak. Three years later he was a pallbearer at the younger Kennedy's funeral.
Jim Whittaker summits Mt. Everest in 1963.
