In 1934 he went to Europe and while attending the London School of Economics he did a great deal of solo climbing in the Alps. This let him meet other climbers and with whom he joined for expeditions. 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. He reported no problems with altitude.