 The son of a textile machinery manufacturer, Mertz studied patent law at the University of Bern, and science at the University of Lausanne, specialising in glacier and mountain formations. While a student, Mertz became active as a skier, competing in national competitions, and as a mountaineer, climbing many of the highest peaks in the Alps. In early 1911, Mertz was hired by geologist and explorer Douglas Mawson for his Australasian Antarctic Expedition. He was initially employed as a ski instructor, but in Antarctica Mertz instead joined Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis in the care of the expedition's Greenland Huskies.
