JOHN EDGAR BREITENBACH

1935–1963

John Edgar Breitenbach was killed on March 23, 1963 in the Khumbu Icefall of Mount Everest by a collapsing wall of ice.

Jake climbed throughout North America, made significant ascents in the Tetons, climbed McKinley by the West Buttress and again by the western rim of the South Face, and attempted Mount Steele in the St. Elias Range. He was a member of the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition. Jake was a fine mountaineer. He never climbed Mount Owen, although he went to within a yard of the summit many times. He thought that someday he might want to climb Owen for the first time, and perhaps he enjoyed the courting.

He graduated in mathematics from Oregon State College, then made his home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he guided for six years and operated a ski shop. He is survived by his wife, his parents, a brother, and his friends, all of whom loved him.

Exultant, tolerant of himself and others, delighted by new horizons, Jake was always searching, searching harder than most. He also lived harder than most and was once a swinger of birches. He liked sunsets, the New World Symphony, yellow rock in the sunlight, watching his own history, cold nights, catching a fish. He was very happy in the icefall the day he died, though he knew that mountains sometimes move.

Most of all, Jake scribed the future through his friends, which imprint will survive. His friends will recognize the epitaph Jake always wanted — Long live the crew.

James Barry Corbet