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Rbuffat Gaston Biography

French alpinist and mountain guide. The climbing technique, to gaston, was named after him. He was a recipient of Frances prestigious Chevalier de la Légion dHonneurin 1984. 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 Rébuffats aesthetic has since won the day. He put up more than 40 new routes in the Alps. He died 31 May 1985, Paris. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less