The two had to pay their own way but Lowe was broke, so Riddiford and Edmund Hillary (who had money from working on a South Island hydroelectric project) joined.
The leader of the 1952 British Cho Oyu expedition was Eric Shipton, who was disorganised and left the ordering of supplies to Riddiford.
[2] But Riddiford injured his back on Cho Oyo (while rolling rocks down the mountain with the Sherpas) so did not return to the Himalayas.
With his wife Rosemary, he bought the 3850 ha Orongorongo (sheep) Station between Pencarrow Head and Palliser Bay (previously owned by the Riddiford family from 1845, and now a tourist lodge) in 1963, and farmed it until 1986, commuting to the Wairarapa in the weekends.
He died in Wellington, and was survived by his wife Rosemary (née Johnston) and four children.