The six great north faces of the Alps are a group of vertical

faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

in the Swiss, French, and Italian

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

known in

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

for their difficulty, danger, and great height. The "Trilogy" is the three hardest of these north faces, being the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends a ...

, the

Grandes Jorasses The Grandes Jorasses (4,208 m; 13,806 ft) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif, on the boundary between Haute-Savoie in France and Aosta Valley in Italy. The first ascent of the highest peak of the mountain (''Pointe Walker'') was by Hor ...

, and the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

Six north faces

The six great north faces are (sorted by date of the first ascent): *

, first ascent in August 1931; *

Cima Grande di Lavaredo The Tre Cime di Lavaredo (; ), also called the Drei Zinnen (; ), are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps. The three peaks, ...

, first ascent in 1933; *

Petit Dru The Aiguille du Dru (also the Dru or the Drus; French, Les Drus) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It is situated to the east of the village of Les Praz in the Chamonix valley. "Aiguille" means "needle" in French. The ...

, first ascent in 1935; *

Piz Badile Piz Badile (3,308 m) is a mountain of the Bregaglia range in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and the Italian region of Lombardy. The border between the two countries runs along the summit ridge. Its north-east face, overlooking the Swiss Val Bre ...

, first ascent July 1937; *

, first ascent in July 1938; *

, first ascent in August 1938. Making the first ascent of each of these six faces was a major preoccupation of the best European climbers in the 1930s.

Gaston Rébuffat Gaston Rébuffat (; 7 May 1921, Marseille – 31 May 1985, Paris) was a French alpinist, mountain guide, and author. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna 1 in 1950 and the first man to climb all six of the ...

, a French alpinist and mountain guide, was the first to do so, chronicled in his 1954 work, ''Etoiles et Tempêtes'' (''Starlight and Storm'').

the Trilogy

Three of these north faces — the Eiger, the Matterhorn, and the Grandes Jorasses – are much harder to climb, and are known as 'the Trilogy' (or the "north face trilogy").

Records

* The first to climb these three faces within a single year was the Austrian Leo Schlömmer, from the summer of 1961 to the summer of 1962. *

Ivano Ghirardini Ivano Ghirardini (born 1 May 1953) is a French mountaineer. Early life He was born in Montefiorino in Emilia-Romagna. He left Italy with his family in 1954 and was naturalized in 1972. He attended school in Marseille, earning a Baccalaureate ...

was the first person to climb "the Trilogy" in winter, solo (1977–78), and

Catherine Destivelle Catherine Destivelle (born 24 July 1960) is a French rock climber and mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing ...

was the first woman (1992-93-94) to complete the solo winter trilogy. * With the introduction of the concept of enchainment, the next challenge was to climb all three faces in one outing, a race eventually won by

Tomo Česen Tomislav "Tomo" Česen (born November 5, 1959) is a Slovenian mountaineer; he specialises in solo ascents in the Alps and the Himalayas. At the age of 26, he reported that he had enchained the three Great north faces of the Alps, becoming the fir ...

in 1986 at the age of 26; after that Christophe Profit, who achieved the feat between 11–12 March 1987 in a time of 24 hours.Mark Twight
''Kiss Or Kill: Confessions of a Serial Climber''
The Mountaineers Books, 2002, p. 33 * From December 2014 to March 2015, during a project known as "Starlight and Storms",

Tom Ballard Thomas Colin Ballard (born 26 November 1989) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. Early life Ballard was born to parents Judy and Neil Ballard and grew up in Warrnambool, Victoria. He attended Brauer Secondary Colle ...

climbed these six north faces solo, being the first person to complete this feat in a single winter season without a support team. A film chronicling this project, ''Tom'', won several awards at international film festivals. * On 15 August 2021, with his ascent of the

in 1 hour 43 minutes, the Swiss climber completed a ten-year project to make the fastest solo speed climb of all six faces. He had previously set speed records on the other five faces, with

Ueli Steck Ueli Steck (; 4 October 1976 – 30 April 2017) was a Swiss rock climber and mountaineer. He was the first to climb Annapurna solo via its South Face (though this is disputed by some), and set speed records on the North Face trilogy in the Alps ...

's 2015 solo of the Eiger north face the only current faster ascent (when Arnold climbed the Eiger north face in 2011 in two hours and 28 minutes it was the fastest at that date).

Gallery

File:North face.jpg, The north face of the

File:GrandesJorasses.jpg, The north faces of the

File:Matterhorn from Domhütte - 2.jpg, The north face of the

File:Badile.jpg, The north-east face of

File:Les Drus - North face.jpg, The north face of the

File:Cima grande.JPG, The north face of

Bibliography

*Anker, Daniel (ed.) (2000) ''Eiger: The Vertical Arena''. Seattle: The Mountaineers. * * Hargreaves, Alison (1995). ''A Hard Day's Summer: Six Classic North Faces Solo''. London: Hodder & Stoughton. * Rébuffat, Gaston (1999). ''Starlight and Storm: The Conquest of the Great North Faces of the Alps''. New York: Modern Library. *Destivelle, Catherine (2003). ''Ascensions'', Arthaud (French) () * Destivelle, Catherine (2015). ''Rock Queen'', Hayloft Publishing Ltd ()

References

{{Reflist Alps North faces Mountaineering in the Alps Cliffs of Europe Mountaineering in Switzerland