Following his return from Tibet, Harrer settled down in Kitzbühel, Austria, and later in Liechtenstein. He took part in a number of ethnographic as well as mountaineering expeditions to Alaska, the Andes, and the Mountains of the Moon in central Africa. In 1953 he explored the source of the Amazon River and made a first ascent of Ausangate (6384 m). In 1954, some with German-American Fred Beckey, Harrer made the first ascents of Mount Deborah (3,761 m, 12,339 ft), Mount Hunter (4,442 m, 14,573 ft), and Mount Drum (3661 m), each in Alaska. In 1957, he explored the Congo River with the former king Leopold III of Belgium.