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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#1F497D">
</span><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">HONOR THE 50<sup>th</sup> ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST AMERICAN TO SUMMIT MOUNT EVEREST<span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">AMERICAN ADVENTURE ICON JIM WHITTAKER RELEASES TELL-ALL AUTOBIOGRAPHRY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><i><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Trapped in the Death Zone, out of oxygen, and freezing at 28,000 feet…the most daring climb in Everest history.” –
<u>Outside</u> magazine cover<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:15.6pt;background:white">
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif""><img width="260" height="372" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.png@01CE45BA.27029F80"><img width="286" height="372" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image003.png@01CE45BA.27029F80"></span><img width="242" height="369" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image004.png@01CE45BA.27029F80"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black"> <i>“My father's greatest living heroes were John Glenn and Jim Whittaker - a physical giant with a huge heart, a decent soul, and inspirational
courage. We can all be grateful that Whittaker has finally put his extraordinary life on paper. Whittaker's story is a riveting saga of high adventure by one of history's greatest climbers.”
</i> —<b><i>Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black">“Jim Whittaker is an American adventure hero of the highest order—on the highest peaks and deepest oceans. His story is a timeless tale
of inspiration and living life to the fullest—on the edge and at home. He’s a model for us all.”</span></i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black">—Tom Brokaw</span></i></b><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black">“If you aren’t living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space</span></i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:black">.”
<b><i>—Jim Whittake</i></b></span><b><i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D">r,
</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif"">still climbing at 83!<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><i><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NEW YORK, NY April 18, 2013</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> -- If you like adventure, the Kennedy’s, REI, or gut-wrenching true tales, then Jim Whittaker is your
man. Whittaker’s autobiography, <b><i>A LIFE ON THE EDGE: MEMOIRS OF EVEREST AND BEYOND</i></b><i>,</i> to be released this May, chronicles Whittaker from his time honing his skills as a climbing guide on Mount Rainier and as a member of Olympic Mountain Rescue,
through his triumphs and defeats as REI’s President and CEO<span style="color:#1F497D">,</span> through his laughs and losses as close friend and confidante to Kennedy’s, to organizing a Mount Everest International Peace climb uniting China, Russia and America.
Jim Whittaker <i>is</i> inspirational American history -- with a pick axe. <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jim was only 34-years-old when he stepped onto the summit of Everest at 1:00 PM on May 1, 1963. What could the following fifty years possibly hold to compare? Everest may have been the high
point topographically, but Jim’s life has contained many more peaks—and valleys too. Starting as its only full-time employee, he built REI from a small mountaineering co-op to a multimillion-dollar business with stores nationwide. He led Bobby Kennedy on a
first ascent of Canada’s Mt. Kennedy, and then developed a close friendship with Kennedy—later running his presidential campaign in Washington State. He led the climbing expedition that put the first Americans on the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest
mountain. His organization of the 1990 Mount Everest International Peace Climb united Chinese, Soviet, and American climbers in a common goal of reaching Everest’s summit while also cleaning up more than two tons of trash left by previous expeditions. In honor
of the <b>50<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of the first American ascent of Mount Everest<span style="color:#1F497D">,</span> Robert Kennedy Jr.<span style="color:#1F497D">
</span>paid </b>special tribute to Jim Whittaker—as he led his father, Bobby Kennedy, to the summit of Mt. Kennedy (named for President John F. Kennedy) in 1965</span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">
</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The young Bobby Kennedy names Whittaker as “a part of the family,” saying: “He taught my father things about wilderness and the importance of wilderness that became
part of my father’s gestalt . . . Jim Whittaker is the example of the best thing our country produces.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="center" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space:auto;text-align:center">
<i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><img width="510" height="382" id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image009.jpg@01CE3C44.57B70D20" alt="Schaeffler, Kennedy, Glenn, Whittaker photo"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:15.0pt">
<b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">(L to R) Willy Schaeffler (coach of the US Olympic Ski Team), Ted Kennedy, John Glenn, Jim, Robert Kennedy - in Sun Valley, about 1966. - Whittaker<span style="color:fuchsia">
</span>family collection<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-left:.25in;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><img width="383" height="288" id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:image005.png@01CE3C40.FA67E750"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="center" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space:auto;text-align:center">
<b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jim receives the Hubbard Medal from President Kennedy - George Mobley photo/National Geographic<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="center" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space:auto;text-align:center">
<i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.75in;mso-add-space:auto"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#1F497D"><img width="260" height="321" id="_x0000_i1027" src="cid:image006.jpg@01CE3C40.FA67E750"></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jim teaching John F. Kennedy Jr. the ‘Snow Plow’ to the amusement of Jackie Kennedy and older sister, Caroline<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Whittaker, became a part of world history when he became the first American to summit the Earth’s highest mountain, Mount Everest,
on May 1, 1963, and is regarded as a ground-breaking figure in North American Mountaineering.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO2Xa7SY288"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">PRESS
HERE</span></b></a></span><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt"> to view footage from Jim Whittaker’s 1963 Everest Expedition
</span></b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt">(courtesy Eddie Bauer)</span></i><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnpg3k4CTA4"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">PRESS
HERE</span></b></a></span><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt"> to view footage from Jim Whittaker’s return to Everest in 2012
</span></b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt">(courtesy Eddie Bauer)<span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:10.0pt;text-align:center;page-break-after:avoid">
<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For MEDIA wishing for more info or to speak with Jim Whittaker, contact:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jennie Boddy or Angela Burke at Press Here<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="mailto:jennie@pressherepublicity.com"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">jennie@pressherepublicity.com</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">
// </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="mailto:angela@pressherepublicity.com"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">angela@pressherepublicity.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="color:#1F497D">212.246.2640<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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