Jim Wickwire (born June 8, 1940) is the first American to summit K2, the second highest mountain in the world (summit at ). Wickwire is also known for surviving an overnight solo bivouac on K2 at an elevation above ; considered "one of the most notorious bivouacs in mountaineering history".
Early life
Wickwire was raised in the small town of Ephrata, Washington, by James and Dorothy Wickwire. He played football for Ephrata High School and Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Washington, where he was part of an unbeaten team in 1961 that was later invited to the Junior Rose Bowl. Wickwire chose to leave football and enroll in Gonzaga University, where he graduated law school. He trained and has practiced as a lawyer. His ascent in 1963, was the first up the wall's East Rib. In 1970, he completed the first winter ascent of the Willis Wall. Wickwire's other ascents of the Willis Wall occurred in 1971 and 1974.
When Wickwire finally climbed K2 for the first time, seven climbers had already died there. His first attempt on K2 was in a 1975 expedition that broke down in disputes and never got above .
Wickwire reached the summit of K2 with Louis Reichardt on September 6, 1978. The pair took photos on the summit, and then Reichardt started his descent immediately because he had made the climb without supplemental oxygen. Wickwire lingered a little longer, with the intention of catching up. Upon his descent it was beginning to get dark however, and Wickwire did not have a headlamp. Concerned about being able to move safely in the dark, he decided to spend the night where he was, which was below the summit but above . Wickwire had done bivouacs before and knew he just needed to gut it out until daylight, which was risky because of the thin air and severe cold. Risks included hypoxia, hypothermia, frostbite, cerebral edema, pulmonary edema, and falling.
Wickwire did not have a tent, sleeping bag, or water. His oxygen ran out halfway through the night, and his gas stove became inoperable. His only protection, other than his immediate winter clothing, was a thin nylon bivvy sack, which is uninsulated but windproof and helps to retain body heat. He shivered uncontrollably from the extreme cold (estimated to be -35 °F) and kept slowly sliding down the slope. He was forced to get out of his sack to remedy the problem and discovered that he was at risk of sliding over an edge that rolled off to drop below. "No one had ever survived a solo bivouac above twenty-seven thousand feet". The surgeon expressed uncertainty about Wickwire's ever climbing at high altitudes again. Nevertheless, Wickwire continued high-altitude climbing a couple of years later, climbing the slopes of Alaska's Denali in preparation for his climbing expedition on Mount Everest.
Crevasse on Denali
In 1981, Wickwire was traversing a glacier on Denali, with 25-year-old Mount Rainier guide Chris Kerrebrock in the lead. They were roped together and dragging a sled. Glaciers often have deep crevasses, which can be concealed by thin layers of snow. A crevasse opened up beneath Kerrebrock who fell in headfirst, pulling Wickwire and the sled in on top of him, since they were roped together. Wickwire was able to slowly climb out with an ice axe but was unable to rescue Kerrebrock, who was alive but wedged in tightly, still wearing his backpack and upside down. (Kerrebrock couldn't feel his hand when Wickwire touched it.) Wickwire had broken his shoulder, but slowly scaled the ice walls of the crevasse, six inches at a time, with his ice axe and crampons. Once upon the rim surface he attempted to dislodge Kerrebrock, who was still very much conscious, by pulling forcefully on the rope. Wickwire then descended on rope anchored to a snow picket, and attempted moving Kerrebrock's tightly wedged backpack from within the crevasse, but all efforts were futile. Resigned to Kerrebrock's fate, the two men said their goodbyes. Kerrebrock subsequently died late in the night. (Kerrebrock had instructed Wickwire to leave it up to his father to decide whether to leave his body in the crevasse or not. Wickwire led park rangers to the site, and they extracted Kerrebrock from the location.)
Upon getting down from the mountain, which took several days and was fraught with more crevasse dangers, Wickwire was burdened by his guilt for months for being unable to save Kerrebrock. He thought about quitting the upcoming expedition to Mount Everest stating, "the furthest thought in my mind was Everest at that point".
North face Everest attempts
Wickwire made four (unsuccessful) attempts on the north side of Mount Everest, in: 1982, 1984, 1993, and 2003. During the 1982 expedition, Wickwire formed a relationship with female climber Marty Hoey.
Personal life
At the time of Kerrebrock's death, Wickwire had been working for 20 years to become "one of the world's most accomplished mountain climbers".
Film
The film K2 (1991) is based very loosely on Wickwire and Reichardt's 1978 K2 summit; there are significant differences between the film and reality.