Jason Edwards ’84, ’89

Jason is a school teacher, Emergency Medical Technician, and highly regarded mountain climber and Alpine guide, who has lead successful ascents of mountains across the globe. These include volcanoes, peaks and mountains from Antarctica, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru to Australia, Nepal, Russia, and Tanzania. He has made four successful ascents of Mt. Everest, with his 2001 Everest expedition being one of the most successful in Everest history, with14 of 16 climbers reaching the 29,035′ summit. In 2002, Jason became the 65th person to climb the famed continental “Seven Summits,” after his ascent of Mt. Kosciusko, located in New South Wales, Australia. From 1981 to 2004, Jason guided for Rainier Mountaineering, where he led several ascents of Mt. McKinley, and in 2006, as an International Mountain Guide http://www.mountainguides.com/index.shtml, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier for the 300th time, which places him in the company of only seven other guides who have also achieved this rare feat. Unique for an institution of PLU’s size, Jason is the third graduate to summit Mt. Everest (29,035′) following in the footsteps of Luther (“Lute”) Jerstad ’58, who was a member of the first American team to summit Everest, and Chris Chandler ’70, who summited in 1976 and then tragically died in 1985 trying to climb Mt. Kanchenjunga in Nepal, the third highest mountain in the world. Jason graduated from PLU’s undergrad business school in 1984, and in 1989 earned a second BA in education. He also holds an MA in educational technology from Grand Canyon University (2008). Jason’s day job is as a middle school teacher at Stahl Junior High School in Puyallup where he teaches an integrated computer technology class called “Digitools,” that combines technology applications with English and World Studies.