Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
2010.16.1Description
Tacoma lawyer Jerry Lynch, left, and Lou Whittaker founded Rainier Mountaineering Inc. in 1969. The friends met in the 1960s when Whittaker was guiding and Lynch was working at Paradise. When they launched RMI, Whittaker headed up the guiding and Lynch handled business operations, snf both picked the guides. RMI grew to become the largest guide service in the country. Lynch started working at Rainier while he was a student at Clover Park High School. He worked as a soda jerk at Sunrise and a horse guide at Paradise, and he managed the concessions at Sunrise and Longmire. “He was crazy about Rainier,” Mountaineer Joe Horiskey told The News Tribune in 2007. "He thought it was special to be able to do business in the park." Lynch climbed Rainier many times and took his four sons - Chris, Anthony, Michael and Peter - to the summit by the time they were 12. Each of his sons worked briefly at Rainier. Lynch liked to show up at Camp Muir with a pack full of steaks because he knew it would make his clients’ and guides’ day after a week of climbing. "My life has been largely shaped by my activities at Mount Rainier," Lynch told The News Tribune in 2005. "It's something I love." Lynch died in 2007 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.Lexicon
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Mountaineering, Mountain Climbing, Professional/Semi-ProRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Whittaker, LouPerson or Organization
Lynch, Jerry