[1] His father (Peter Kaufmann-von Allmen, 1858-1924) and his grandfather (Grabipeter, 1832-1903) were established, certified mountain guides, who lived during the Golden and Silver Ages of Alpinism.

Those two adventurous sixteen-year-olds who tried skiing for the first time in February 1891 were Hans (1874-1930) and Ruedi Kaufmann (born 1875),[4] Peter's uncles.

[8] Upon his final return from England, he settled in Neuhausen am Rheinfall where he met his future wife, Margaritha Bohren, who was also from Grindelwald.

On December 20, 1928, he received his teaching certificate as a ski teacher (Skilehrer Patent) from the Bernese Ski-Teachers' Commission, which he renewed annually for 36 years.

[18] During four days of climbing in 1929, he remarked that Kaufmann “is always ready to explain points that puzzle the beginner.” For example, he clarified that a large china cup to drink spring water was used by climbers above the Milchbach ladders headed for the Gleckstein Hut; and as Peter explained, “It was always replaced after [passers-by] had drunk their fill, never broken and never stolen though fettered by no rusty chain to the rock.”[19] One of Kaufmann's repeated clients was Peter Daniell (1909-2002), who originally "spent childhood holidays in Switzerland to cure asthma," but "became a passionate mountaineer, scaling many Alpine peaks in his student days.

[21] Upon Daniell's recommendation, C. A. Chadwick-Maley and his brother hired Kaufmann for climbs in the Oberland (Wetterhorn) and the Wallis and wrote that they "learned much from him," but observe that "he eats far too much, but as he has to carry the food, one can hardly complain.

On June 23, they met the guide Edward Feuz, Jr., who joined them the following day to "motor to Moraine Lake" and climbed Mt.

Thorington comments: "Peter has long since forgiven me, but 25 miles with packs after a high climb, is not easily forgotten.

Megrew described the size of the expedition: "Our pack-train was increased here to twenty-seven horses, five packers and five travelers, and with this outfit we proceeded directly to the Freshfield group, which we reached on July 4th.

[35] First ascent, via east face and descent by west ridge, crossing from Bow Lake to Twin Falls and Yoho Camp, over Waputik Icefield.

Thorington and Cromwell had one major reason to visit Canada: To locate the real source of the Columbia River[36] in the southern Purcell Range.

To achieve this goal, they had employed Peter Kaufmann and the renown Austrian mountaineer and wrangler, Conrad Kain (1883–1934), as their guides.

Having gone ahead with supplies and horses, Kain met Kaufmann, Cromwell, and Thorington on July 18, 1930, at Walter and Melrose Hawke's Justamere Ranch in the Windermere Valley.

[37][38] Although Kaufmann and his companions made the trip from Invermere to the Ranch in relative comfort by "motor-truck," the journey up Dutch Creek to the mountains of the Continental Divide was much more demanding, as existing trails narrowed and finally disappeared, forcing the group to leave its pack horses behind.

Thorington observed wildlife (e.g., lynx, buck deer, mountain goats, and grizzly bears) and made geographical aneroid measurements, including training "the motion picture camera on the glacier [as] Conrad pointed to the slope above.

Thorington detailed the source of the Columbia River: "Kaufmann, in order to gain a better view along the ridge immediately to our right, scrambled a little summit scarcely 400 feet above us.

"[42] Cromwell and Kaufmann climbed Howser Peak (3082 m/10,112 ft) on August 8 and found a cairn left by Captain MacCarthy and Conrad Kain 14 years earlier.

This Conrad beat by taking a back-stand furnished by Peter and myself, inserting the pick of his ice-axe into the horizontal fissure and swarming up the handle until he could get his finger into the crack.

"[45] Although Conrad was one of the most capable mountaineers of his day, by 1930 he had reduced his climbing substantially, so that he wrote to Thorington in March 1931, "It would be to your and my advantage if you could find a third man to come along for the trip .

Thimble and Flat Top," offering "sensational view of the Howser Spires, which from this vantage point appear quite as impressive as the Chamonix Aiguilles."

[48] During the 1930s, there were repeated attempts to conquer the Eiger's north face —including the infamous climb in 1936 by Andreas Hinterstoisser, Toni Kurz, Willy Angerer, and Edi Rainer.

[50] On the lighter side, in August 1940 and 1941, Trudy Schwärzel summarized her climbs in an unusual manner, as two poetic entries in Peter's Führerbuch in Basler dialect.

She praises Peter Kaufmann: "Er zieht di d'Felse ab und uff,/und über der Glätscherschrund/er hackt die steile Hang duruff,/dass d'laufsch wie uf em Grund./ Er luegt so guet und sorgt für aim,/passt uff uf dini Tritt/er bringt di glücklig wieder heim--/ja, das isch Feriezyt!

S'git viel gueti Fiehrer,/i weiss Nummer ein./er heisst Peter Kaufme,/und ich do deheim.

"[51] Following the end of the Second World War, Kaufmann resumed his work as a mountain guide in 1946, completing numerous climbs in the Bernese Oberland during the late 1940s and the 1950s.

The last entry in his Führer-Buch, written by John Corsan on August 28, 1959, again praised Peter as "a generous and cheerful companion," who is "extremely patient and careful .

as well as being helpful and encouraging to a party of comparative novices [Gillian McClare, Madeline A. Lund, G. N. Dyson, and J. D. Hardcastle] in the Alps."