Lute Jerstad

Luther G. (Lute) Jerstad (1936–1998) was an American mountaineer and mountain guide who was a member of the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition. He reached the summit of Mount Everest by the South Col route on May 22, 1963 with Barry Bishop. Three weeks earlier, on May 1, Jim Whittaker and Sherpa mountaineer Nawang Gombu had reached the summit, placing an American flag there. Jerstad described seeing the flag as he and Bishop approached the summit, "Just then we came over the last rise and there was that American flag -- and what a fantastic sight! That great big flag whipping in the breeze, and the ends were tattered."

Later that day, they met up with fellow expedition members Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld, who had just completed the first ascent of Everest by the West Ridge route, and the first traverse of the mountain. The four climbers made a frigid high-altitude bivouac at 28,000 feet without tents, sleeping bags or supplemental oxygen, and survived only because it was not a windy night.