Gaston Rébuffat

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Gaston Rébuffat (7 May 1921, Marseille – 31 May 1985, Paris) was a famous French alpinist. He is among the most well-known and revered Alpinists of all time. The climbing technique, to gaston, was named after him. He was a recipient of France's prestigious Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1984.

[edit] Career

Rébuffat began climbing in the Calanques becoming a mountain guide in 1942. He rose to international prominence in 1950 as one of the four principals of a French expedition during the first ascent of Annapurna, the highest peak then summitted. His most famous mountaineering feat was to be the first man to climb all six of the great north faces of the Alps--the Grandes Jorasses, the Piz Badile, the Petit Dru, the Matterhorn, the Cima Grande di Lavaredo, and the Eiger. His insistence on seeing a climb as an act of harmonious communion with the mountain, not a battle waged against it, seemed radical at the time, though Rébuffat's aesthetic has since won the day. He put up more than 40 new routes in the Alps

[edit] 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. His most famous written work is Etoiles et Tempêtes (Starlight and Storm), first published in French in 1954, and in English in 1956.

Between Heaven and Earth (with Pierre Tairraz). Kaye and W, 1970. ISBN 0-718-20513-8
The Mont Blanc Massif: The Hundred Finest Routes. Bâton Wicks, 2005. ISBN 1-8985-7369-7
Starlight and Storm: The Conquest of the Great North Faces of the Alps. New York: Modern Library, 1999. ISBN 0-375-75506-3