The Lopez Island Library presents an evening with mountaineer Jim Whittaker and his son, climber and author Leif Whittaker on Saturday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m. at Lopez Center.

Jim is best known as the first American to summit Mt. Everest when on May 1, 1963, with the Sherpa Nawang Gombu (a nephew of Tenzing Norgay) and despite running out of oxygen, they summited the highest mountain in the world and planted the US flag.

He has led numerous other monumental climbing expeditions, including the first ascent of Mt. Kennedy in the Canadian Yukon in 1965 (with Senator Robert Kennedy) and the first American ascent of K2 in 1978. In 1990 he brought climbers together from the United States, USSR and China to summit Mount Everest for the successful Mt. Everest International Peace Climb. In addition to putting more than a dozen climbers on the summit, the expedition hauled off a large amount of trash left on the mountain by previous expeditions.

His best-selling, award-winning memoir, “A Life on the Edge – Memoirs of Everest and Beyond,” spans nine decades of American mountaineering and a remarkable life lived alongside it. The book will be available for sale and signing at the event.

He is an inspirational public speaker, who has given presentations to numerous organizations over the last 40 years. For being the first American to scale Mount Everest, Whittaker was awarded the Hubbard Medal by United States President John F. Kennedy.

Jim’s son Leif reached his first major summit when he was 15 years old. He has since climbed many of the world’s tallest mountains, including Aconcagua, Mount Vinson, and Mount Everest twice. He is a talented writer and photographer whose work has appeared in numerous magazines including “Powder,” “Backcountry” and “The Ski Journal.”

His first book, “My Old Man and the Mountain,” was published by Mountaineers Books in October 2016 and will be available for sale and be signing at the event. He is a climbing ranger for the United States Forest Service on Mount Baker where he spends his summers keeping visitors safe on the glacier. Join the Whittakers and your library for an evening of true adventure. Presented by Friends of Lopez Library and the Ramsey Shirk Fund.