National Geographic Society    • Connect:  Americans on Everest
Americans on Everest  Check your local listings.  On May 1,
1963, Jim Whittaker reached the summit of Mount Everest,
becoming the first American and only the seventh person in
history to do so. In the following weeks, five other members of
the expedition, which was funded in part by the National
Geographic Society, would do the same, including a successful
summit via the then-unclimbed route along the West Ridge. The
film takes viewers through the painstaking preparations and the
highs and lows of one of mankind's most challenging feats.