The 1937 ascent was largely unaided, Wiessner led almost the entire climb free, placing only a single piece of fixed gear, a piton, which he later regretted, deeming it unnecessary.
On July 4, House, Fritz Wiessner, Elizabeth Woolsey and Alan Willcox reached the head of the Knight Inlet.
[17] On July 20, Wiessner and House first attempted the line of a great couloir that comes directly down between the main summit tower and the northwest peak.
It was an excellent line for quickly ascending but they were unable to traverse onto the south face proper due to poor rock conditions and were forced to retreat to base camp.
While Wiessner initially started in boots, he quickly changed to rope-soled shoes and gave his ice axe and extra rope to House.
After climbing a short chimney they finally reached the small snowy mass at the top, 13 hours after their start in base camp.
They aborted their earlier plan of descending the shorter north face and retraced their ascent line, reaching their tent on the Dais Glacier at 2 am.
During the second world war House served as a civilian with the office of the Quartermaster General of the United States Army, in that role he undertook tours of duty in Iceland, Greenland and Arctic Canada.