
Gaston Rébuffat (; 7 May 1921,
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
– 31 May 1985,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) 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
great north faces of the Alps
The six great north faces of the Alps are a group of vertical faces in the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps known in mountaineering for their difficulty, danger, and great height. The "Trilogy" is the three hardest of these north faces, being th ...
.
In 1984, he was made an officer in the French
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
for his service as a mountaineering instructor for the French military. At the age of 64, Gaston Rébuffat died of cancer in Paris, France. The
rock-climbing technique, the "
Gaston", was named after him. A photo of Rébuffat atop the Aiguille du Roc in the
French Alps
The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...
is on the
Voyager Golden Record
The Voyager Golden Records are two identical phonograph records, one of each which were included aboard the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and data to reconstruct raster scan images selected to portray the di ...
s.
Early life
Gaston Rébuffat was born on 7 May 1921 in Marseilles, France. He began climbing at the age of 14 in the
Calanques
A calanque (, "inlet"; , plural ''calanche'' or ''calanchi''; , plural ''calancas'') is a narrow, steep-walled inlet that is developed in limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, or other Carbonate minerals, carbonate strata and found along the Med ...
near Marseilles.
At the age of 16, he became a member of the Club Alpin Français (French Alpine Club), where he was introduced to high altitude mountaineering. There he met
Lionel Terray, a French mountaineer who would join Rébuffat on the
1950 Annapurna ascent. He later moved to Chamonix, France and became a member of the
Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix. He soon began climbing in the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
, where he would spend much of his career.
Climbing career
Instructor and guide
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Gaston Rébuffat attended Jeunesse et Montagne, a French youth training organization.
He graduated in 1942, earning his mountain guide certification at the age of 21, despite the minimum age for certification being 23. He continued as an instructor for Jeunesse et Montagne, until, in 1944, he became an instructor for the French National Ski and Mountaineering School (ENSA) as well as the
High Mountain Military School, where he served as a mountaineering instructor for several years, eventually earning him the
Légion d'Honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
.
After some time as an instructor, Rébuffat wanted to spend more time as a guide. He stated in his 1954 work ''Starlight and Storm'': "Each winter I found myself impatiently awaiting July. At last, the day would come for departure to Ailefroide or Chamonix. There I would spend a few days on the tops, only to return and wait for another year. Then one day, deciding that I must live among the mountains, I became a guide."
In 1945, Rébuffat left his position at the ENSA to become a mountain guide in the Alps. Throughout his career, he guided many climbers and mountaineers, both new and experienced, up the mountains of the Alps. By the 1950s he was known as one of the foremost experts on the
Mont Blanc Massif in the Alps, where he had set several routes himself.
Alpine north faces
One of Rébuffat's most famous accomplishments is his ascent of the six
great north faces of the Alps
The six great north faces of the Alps are a group of vertical faces in the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps known in mountaineering for their difficulty, danger, and great height. The "Trilogy" is the three hardest of these north faces, being th ...
.
He began planning for his first ascent, 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 H ...
, in the summer of 1938 at the age of 17, shortly after the first ascent of the mountain's north face by Italian mountaineers
Riccardo Cassin, Gino Esposito, and Ugo Tizzoni. In 1943, Rébuffat made his first attempt at the summit but was not successful due to poor weather conditions. He returned to the mountain in July 1945 and successfully climbed the north face with the assistance of Édouard Frendo. In August 1949, he attempted and successfully completed an ascent of the northeast face of
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 B ...
, during which he acted as a mountain guide for an amateur mountaineer. By this time, Rébuffat was among a handful of elite mountaineers to have climbed these faces. This led to his selection as one of the principal members of the 1950 Annapurna expedition. Over the next several years, he guided mountaineers, both new and experienced, up the remaining great north faces, the
Petit Dru, the
Matterhorn
The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...
, the
Cima Grande di Lavaredo, and 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 ...
.
Annapurna
In 1950, Gaston Rébuffat was part of an expedition to summit Annapurna 1, the tallest point of the Annapurna Massif in the Himalayas and the tenth-highest peak in the world. The expedition was led by
Maurice Herzog and also included French mountaineers
Louis Lachenal and
Lionel Terray. The expedition began in March 1950, with the actual ascent of Annapurna 1 beginning in May. During the ascent, a base camp and four intermediate camps were set up, with the highest being about 7400 meters in altitude. The summit itself was completed on 3 June 1950 by Herzog and Lachenal. While traveling down from the top camp, the four mountaineers were unable to locate the next camp and were forced to spend the night in a crevasse. All members survived the expedition, but Herzog and Lachenal later lost several fingers and toes due to severe frostbite. Although Rébuffat did not summit the mountain, he was instrumental in ensuring his injured colleagues returned safely. The expedition is known to be the first ascent of any mountain over 8000 meters and was the highest mountain climb ever at the time.
Writing
Known for his lyrical writing and his ability to convey not only the dangers of mountaineering but the pure exaltation of the climb, Rébuffat authored several books, many of which he published in his own publishing house.
His most famous written work is ''Etoiles et Tempêtes'' (''Starlight and Storm''), first published in French in 1954, and in English in 1956.
* ''Starlight and Storm: The Ascent of six great North Faces of the Alps'', J.M. Dent, London 1956.
* ''Mont Blanc To Everest'' Thames & Hudson, 1956. Translated from the French ''Du Mont Blanc a l'Himalaya'' 1955.
* ''Calanques'' (with Gabriel M. Ollive) Arthaud, Paris 1957.
* ''On Ice and Snow and Rock'' Nicholas Kaye Ltd 1963 translated from the 1959 French Edition published by EGI.
* ''Un Guide Raconte'' Hachette, Paris, 1964.
* ''Men and the Matterhorn'' Oxford University Press 1967.
* ''Between Heaven and Earth'' (with Pierre Tairraz). Kaye and W, 1970.
* ''Les Horizons Gagnés'' Editions Denoël, 1975.
* ''La Montagne Est Mon Domaine'' Éditions Hoëbeke, Paris 1994.
* ''The Mont Blanc Massif: The Hundred Finest Routes''. Bâton Wicks, 2005.
Filmography
Rébuffat produced three colour films depicting himself and others climbing in the Alps. These are a testament to his skill as a climber, and his love of the mountains. ''Étoiles et Tempêtes'' won the Grand Prix at the Trento Film Festival in Trento, Italy.
* ''Flammes de Pierres'' 1953.
* ''Étoiles et Tempêtes'' with Maurice Baquet and Georges Tairraz 1955
* ''Entre Terre et Ciel'' with Pierre Tairraz 1960-61
* ''Les Horizons Gagnés'' with René Vernadet 1974
Rébuffat also was
second unit
A second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming s ...
director on the
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
mountain film ''
Third Man on the Mountain''.
References
External links
Gaston Rébuffat, 1921-1985Bouldering technique: Gaston
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebuffat, Gaston
1921 births
1985 deaths
Alpine guides
French mountain climbers
Climbing and mountaineering film directors
Climbing and mountaineering writers