Gaston Rébuffat

Gaston Rébuffat (1921 to 1985) was a French alpinist, mountain guide and author, born in Marseille and dying in Paris at the age of 64 from cancer. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna I in 1950 and as the first man to climb all six of the great north faces of the Alps. In 1984 he was made an officer of the French Legion of Honour for his service as a mountaineering instructor to the French military. A rock-climbing technique, the Gaston, was named after him, and a photograph of him on top of the Aiguille du Roc in the French Alps is carried on the Voyager Golden Records. He began climbing at 14 in the Calanques near Marseille.