 With his wife he began to explore the glaciers and peaks on India's northern frontier.The highest peak in the British Empire was then Nanda Devi, ringed around by a series of peaks above , so that it had hardly been approached.In 1925, with Colonel R. C. Wilson of the Indian Army and Dr T. H. Somervell, the Ruttledges scouted the area to the north-east of the great mountain, hoping to find an approach to it by Milam and the Timphu glacier; they eventually concluded that this would be too hazardous.