Dan Bryant (mountaineer)

Leslie Vickery Bryant, known as Dan Bryant (1905–1957), was a New Zealand school teacher who was a member of the 1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition, which was a preliminary to the full expedition of 1936 that attempted the summit. However, in 1935 Bryant did not acclimatise well to altitude above 23,000 feet (7,000 m) and so was not included in the party for 1936. He was a very accomplished ice climber, and was well-liked on expeditions. These two factors led, indirectly, to his compatriot Edmund Hillary becoming a member of the successful 1953 British Mount Everest expedition.

Born in 1905, Dan Bryant graduated at the University of Auckland in 1927 and his first job was at New Plymouth Boys' High School, near the 8,460-foot (2,580 m) Mount Egmont. He was a keen mountaineer and took parties of school pupils on expeditions on the mountain. After four years he moved to South Island and for 16 years taught at four other schools, all close to much higher mountains. At the same time he developed his own climbing skills, particularly concerning ice climbing. With his climbing partner Rod Syme on Mount Tasman in 1933, he pioneered an ice arete route now known as Syme's Ridge. With another partner Lud Mahan he was the first to reach the summit via an ice ridge that is now regarded as one of the most difficult routes up the mountain.

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.

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