Project Jukebox

Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program

Project Jukebox Survey

Help us redesign the Project Jukebox website by taking a very short survey!

James Wickwire

James Wickwire

Growing up in Washington, at an early age Jim Wickwire developed a love of the outdoors and an interest in climbing. Over decades of climbing all over the world, including being the first American to summit K2 in the Himalayas in 1978, he became a world-famous climber who has accomplished much and endured even more. Jim started climbing in Alaska in the 1970s, and in 1981 his climbing partner, Chris Kerrebrock, was killed in a fall into a crevasse while they were on Mount McKinley (now Denali). An attorney by profession and a devout family man, Jim nonetheless is "addicted to danger" and the challenges of extreme mountaineering. He has partnered with some of the very best in pursuit of mountains ranging from Dhaulagiri to K2 to Denali to Everest. For more about Jim Wickwire and his views on risk and responsibility in mountaineering, see his 1998 autobiography, Addicted to Danger: A Memoir about Affirming Life in the Face of Death, which is destined to become a classic in mountaineering literature. In addition to his climbing prowess, Jim is an excellent photographer who has amassed a wide collection of wonderful mountain and mountaineering images over the course of his climbing career. He is now a retired attorney living in Seattle, Washington.

Date of Birth:
Jun 8, 1940
James Wickwire appears in the following new Jukebox projects: