Mt Everest Summiter Jim States

For some family tragedy is a crushing burden and for some it is endured and overcome. For Pittsburgh native Dr. Jim States overcoming his mother's death from cancer as a youngster led him to draw strength from his mother's struggle and his father's determination. He vowed he would make her fight a positive thing in his life, and somehow he did.

He and his sister basically raised themselves in the woods of Pennsylvania following their mother's death, according to Jim. A life in the woods meant climbing and for Jim those hills kept getting steeper and taller, culminating in his summit of Everest on May 14, 1983 as a member of a German/America expedition led by Gerhard Lenser. Among Jim's many other climbs were the ill-fated and tragic expedition to Nanda Devi which cost Devi Unsoeld her life, Makalu (1980), Kota Kinabalu, and Makalu (1992).

More on Jim here.

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