dyhrenfurth received a permit from the nepalese authorities on may 10, 1961, for an american expedition to climb mount everest in the spring of 1963. he recruited a team of climbers that included jake breitenbach, jim whittaker, willi unsoeld, lute jerstad, tom hornbein, dave dingman and barry bishop. william siri was the deputy team leader. al auten was the radio operator, and gil roberts was the team doctor. sherpa nawang gombu was also part of the team.