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 great north faces of the Alps. In 1984, he was made an officer in the French Legion of Honour 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 climbing technique Gaston was named after him. A photo of Rébuffat atop the Aiguille du Roc in the French Alps is on the Voyager Golden Records. Gaston Rébuffat was born on 7 May 1921 in Marseilles, France. He began climbing at the age of 14 in the Calanques 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 ...