27 Facts About Jimmy Chin

Jimmy Chin was born on October 12,1973 and is an American professional mountain athlete, photographer, skier, film director, and author.

In 2006, Jimmy Chin achieved the first successful American ski descent from the summit of Mount Everest with Kit and Rob DesLauriers.

Jimmy Chin's work documenting expeditions and climbs has been featured in numerous publications, including National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Outside magazine and others.

From 1999 to 2001, Jimmy Chin organized climbing expeditions to Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains.

Jimmy Chin signed a sponsorship agreement with The North Face in 2001.

In May 2004, Jimmy Chin climbed Everest with David Breashears and Ed Viesturs while filming for Working Title on a feature film project with Stephen Daldry.

Jimmy Chin photographed the expedition and the story was featured in the September 2005 issue of Men's Journal.

In May 2007, Jimmy Chin joined the Altitude Everest Expedition as a climber and expedition photographer in an attempt to retrace George Mallory and Sandy Irvine's fateful last journey up the North Face of Everest.

In 2007, Jimmy Chin ventured to Borneo with Mark Synnott, Conrad Anker, and Alex Honnold to make the first ascent of a 2,500-foot overhanging alpine big wall at an elevation of 14,000 feet on Mount Kinabalu.

Outside of major Himalayan expeditions, Jimmy Chin has participated in numerous exploratory climbing and skiing expeditions to Baffin Island, Borneo, Mali, Chad, the Pitcairn Islands, Antarctica, and other remote regions of the planet.

In 2024, exactly a century after Irvine's disappearance, an expedition led by Jimmy Chin recovered a detached foot inside a boot and sock on Rongbuk Glacier.

Per Jimmy Chin, it is suspected the remains had melted out of the glacier about a week prior to discovery.

Jimmy Chin began filming in 2003 under the mentorship of Rick Ridgeway.

Jimmy Chin was a cinematographer for the National Geographic television special Deadly Fashion.

Jimmy Chin later worked with David Breashears, shooting Ed Viesturs climbing to the summit of Mount Everest.

Jimmy Chin worked as a cinematographer with Chris Malloy of Woodshed films on the feature documentary 180 South.

In 2010, Jimmy Chin started the commercial production company Camp 4 Collective with Tim Kemple and Renan Ozturk.

Jimmy Chin sold the company to his partners in 2014.

Jimmy Chin collaborated with his wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi to produce and direct the feature-length documentary Meru, about his 2011 climb.

Alex Honnold and Jimmy Chin started climbing together in 2009 but it was not until 2015 that Honnold chose Jimmy Chin and wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi to film his process of climbing up El Capitan.

On June 3,2017, Jimmy Chin led a team that filmed Alex Honnold on the first ever rope-free ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

The 8-part documentary series Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin premiered on Disney Plus on September 7,2022.

Jimmy Chin was born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota, and graduated from Wayland Academy.

Jimmy Chin is a 1996 alumnus of Carleton College, where he received a BA in Asian Studies.

Jimmy Chin first became involved in climbing while at Carleton.

Jimmy Chin serendipitously discovered photography when he borrowed his sleeping climbing partner's camera to take a photo.

On May 26,2013, Jimmy Chin married film director and producer Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.