Robert Whitby grew up in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah, and holds an economics degree from Yale College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has had a diverse business career spanning some 40 years, primarily in the investment banking and management consulting sectors, working in senior executive positions at Arthur Anderson, Ernst & Young, Booz Allen Hamilton, Citicorp and Thyssen-Bornemisza Group. He has lived and worked in the United States and several countries in Western Europe.

Robert is a past Board Member of the Inner Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich and The Explorers Club. He has served as Board Chairman of The Mountain Institute (TMI), a world-wide NGO established to preserve mountain habitats and to help mountain people achieve sustainable mountain livelihoods. He has led TMI Board expeditions to visit their project sites in Peru/Bolivia and Nepal/Tibet/Bhutan.

Robert is currently a director of several not-for-profit organizations and an active leader of Community Partners, a service auxiliary of Harvard Business School alumni. Through Community Partners, he has led substantial pro bono consulting engagements for the Explorers Club, the Hispanic Federation of New York, the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Catholic Charities of Connecticut, and Armstrong Chamber Concerts. He has lived in Greenwich since 1981.

A world-wide mountain-climber, Robert set out in his 50s to climb the highest peak on each continent, a feat known as “The 7 Summits.” He successfully climbed six of the seven, but failed on an Everest climb in 1994 and required medical evacuation. Robert will talk about each of his Seven Summits climbing adventures.

Arranged by Bryan Hooper

Bryan’s summary of his talk:

Robert Whitby exemplified the calm, stoical, persevering character you need to be to climb any mountain, and the toughness, experience and boldness you need to attempt climbing the seven major peaks in each continent in the world. Robert’s upbringing in Utah led him to start climbing mountains at the age of ten, beginning in the Rockies and moving on to the Grand Tetons, the Alps, Mount Washington and Mount Katahdin in Maine as preparation for setting out to meet the challenge of scaling the seven key peaks in the mountaineering lexicon.

Commencing with climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and ending at Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, his story is fascinating to hear, not only for the description of the details of each ascent, but the intriguing relationship he developed with Rob Hall, a professional guide who encouraged and inspired Robert in the scariest climb of the seven, Mount Aconcagua in South America. Hall was leading another expedition at the time Robert was attempting Everest, when Hall’s wife, Jan Arnold, a doctor, helped keep Robert alive after he contracted salmonella poisoning on the mountain. Sadly, Hall himself succumbed on Everest a few years later after staying overnight to tend to one of his client climbers near the summit. The event is described in Jon Krakauer’s book, “Into Thin Air.” Robert and a friend attended the memorial service for Hall in New Zealand, and as a tribute climbed the peak in Australia at the end of that visit.

Robert’s advice to those wishing to emulate his feats are to take the dangers of altitude seriously by undergoing intensive endurance training – and never to underestimate the importance of an ice axe!

Here are his slides:  _SIX ½ SUMMITS Darien Men_’sAssoc.

Here is the link to his talk: https://youtu.be/boX9wpmm3Ac