Dan Bryant (mountaineer)

These two factors led, indirectly, to his compatriot Edmund Hillary becoming a member of the successful 1953 British Mount Everest expedition.

He discovered that his techniques on ice stood good comparison with European climbers, partly because he was used to worse weather conditions.

With an American climber he met, Paul Petzoldt, he climbed the Matterhorn in four hours, descended on the Italian side in another four for lunch, and then reversed the traverse to Switzerland all in one day.

[1] Eric Shipton led the 1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance accompanied by Bill Tilman and a small team on an "alpine-style" expedition.

[2][3] The purpose was not to reach the summit (indeed the remit specifically excluded that) but was to reconnoitre the North Col route in post-monsoon conditions and to carry out wider mountain exploration.

[4] After resigning from Palmerston North Boys' High School, Bryant sailed from Auckland to Bombay via Sydney and then went by train to Darjeeling where he joined up with the rest of the party.

[5] They set off on 24 May 1935 and on the march-in the party was affected by altitude sickness, even at a height of 12,800 feet (3,900 m) while still in Sikkim, with Bryant particularly badly hit to the extent of vomiting.

[9] They reached the river Phung Chu where the bridge was a 100-foot (30 m) yak-hide rope from which a wooden frame was suspended for carrying people and loads.

Bryant volunteered to cross by crawling along under the rope but the friction burnt his leg so badly he dropped off just before he reached the far side.

[2] He joined Tilman and Edmund Wigram in attempting to climb the 23,665-foot (7,213 m) Khartaphu but he had to stop at an intermediate camp while the others tried unsuccessfully to reach the summit.

[15] On 3 August the party split for various expeditions with Bryant and Shipton heading up the West Rongbuk Glacier to make first ascents of Lingtren and its outliers and Lingtrennup.

[19][20][21] The entire party met up on at Rongbuk on 14 August from where they all attempted the 24,730-foot (7,540 m) Changtse but had to give up at 23,000 feet (7,000 m) because of snow, although Bryant had had to turn back earlier.

[16][22] They then headed back east, not going directly to Kharta but climbing a considerable number of mountains over 20,000 feet (6,100 m) during which Bryant had no altitude problems and had "never felt fitter".

[1][29] That year he took a Carnegie Educational Fellowship at London University, returning to New Zealand teaching for most of World War II.