He was the youngest climber on the 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to ascend the mountain.

His Cambridge degree was punctuated by the Everest expedition and, after completing his final year on his return from Nepal,[5] he then studied Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College, London.

[4] Unfortunately, post-war currency restrictions meant that travellers could take no more than £30 out of the country, so spending long periods in the Alps gaining experience was difficult for British climbers, even if they had plenty of available time and personal financial resources.

That difficulty was neatly circumvented in 1952 because a Canadian geologist/mountaineer/millionaire agreed to pay Band, and Chorley, to take core samples from the ice on Monte Rosa, they were paid in Swiss Francs and the work at high-altitude also meant that they were well acclimatised for their mountaineering.

[1][7][8] Band had a particularly successful alpine season in 1952, climbing in the Valais and Chamonix mainly with Roger Chorley but also in the company of John Streetly, Ian McNaught-Davis and Arthur Dolphin.

Out of respect for the religious feelings of the people of Nepal and Sikkim, they stopped about ten feet below the actual summit.

[17] As well as Kempe and Band the party included, Dr. Don Stafford Matthews, John Streetly, Jack Tucker and Mike Westmacott.

[21] Following these early mountaineering successes, Band spent most of his professional life in oil and gas exploration with Shell.

One of his early postings took him to Venezuela and his first evening in the country coincided with a visit by Lord Tangley, then President of the Alpine Club.