Unlike Jim Whittaker, a fellow Seattleite and the first American to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1963, Beckey shied away from the large team efforts, preferring smaller alpine-style undertakings. Beckey seemed a likely choice as a member for the large, 1963 American Everest Expedition, but he was not chosen by expedition leader Norman Dyhrenfurth, even though he had been with him to Lhotse in 1955 with the International Himalayan Expedition.