
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995                   TAG: 9503220043
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

CLIMBER DESCENDS FOR SHOW AT TECH

Lou Whittaker, one of the world's most accomplished mountain climbers, will breathe air at 2,000 feet when he presents a slide show and signs books Thursday and Friday in Blacksburg.

In 1984 Whittaker climbed Mount Everest and a year later he reached intact burial sites on 1,000-foot cliffs in the Andes in Peru. His twin brother, Jim, was the first American to ascend Everest in 1963.

Whittaker is co-owner and chief guide for Rainier Mountaineering Guide Service, the nation's oldest, largest and most notable international guide service, according to a media release.

He began climbing with his brother as a teen-ager to combat asthma. In 1989, Whittaker, 65, led the first successful American ascent of Mount Kangachenjunga in Nepal, the world's third-largest mountain.

He will present a slide show at 7 p.m. Thursday in room 30 in Pamplin Hall at Virginia Tech. Friday, from 10 a.m. to noon, he will sign copies of his new biography, "Lou Whittaker: Memoirs of a Mountain Guide" in the University Bookstore's Volume Two in the University Mall.

Whittaker's visit is sponsored by Virginia Tech's Outing Club, the University Bookstore, Jansport, Blacksburg Parks and Recreation and Blue Ridge Outdoors.

by CNB