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.
Mount Rainier and the Willis Wall
Wickwire made several pioneering ascents of Mount Rainier's foot Willis Wall in the 1960s and 1970s, which had remained unclimbed until 1961. 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.
K2: summit and bivouac
K2 has been termed the "Savage Mountain" in writings about its high altitude climbing. Its dangers include notorious weather conditions, stretches of technical climbing on rock and ice, marked cliff exposures, and enormous, high-altitude serac. It has the second-highest fatality rate among the "eight thousanders" for those who climb it; of every four people who have reached the summit, one has died trying.
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 next morning, John Roskelley and Rick Ridgeway found him continuing down while on their way to the summit. Wickwire lost parts of two toes and underwent lung surgery due to blood clots on his lungs (pulmonary emboli); he also caught pneumonia and pleurisy. The Pakistani army helicoptered Wickwire right from the glacier at the bottom of the mountain, and Wickwire immediately underwent lung surgery. 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.