Interview about rescue work and mountain camps on Mount Rainier. Mountain rescue worker being interviewed mentions legendary mountaineers, the Whittaker twins (Jim and Lou), being rescued off Mount Rainier after Lou Whitaker became paralyzed in his back and hip and “had to have direct aid by rope coming down this ice wall by Dee Molenaar”.
Jim Whittaker is the co-founder of REI and the first American to scale Mount Everest. Both Whittaker twins worked in mountain rescue work in the Cascades of Washington State, were guides on Mount Rainier and were instructors for the US Army’s renowned 10th Mountain Division.
Dee Molenaar is another famed mountaineer, who was also an author and artist. Molenaar was part of the 1953 K2 expedition with Pete Schoening and has climbed Mount Rainier more than 50 times. He died at the age of 101 in 2020.