Gaston Rébuffat

Gaston Rébuffat, born May 7, 1921, in Marseille and died May 31, 1985, in Bobigny, was a French mountaineer, notably a member of the 1950 French expedition to Annapurna, a high-mountain guide, writer, and filmmaker.

Gaston Rébuffat discovered climbing in the Calanques of Marseille. At sixteen, he joined the French Alpine Club (Haute-Provence section), where he discovered high-altitude mountaineering and met Henri Moulin, whom he considered his "big brother in mountaineering." He then explored the Alps and the Mont Blanc massif, which became his playground. In 1940, he joined Jeunesse et Montagne (Youth and Mountain), where he met Lionel Terray, who became his friend. It was at the "School, Youth, and Mountain" center in Valgaudemar that his passion for the mountains took deep root. He then moved to Chamonix, where he worked on his friend Lionel Terray's farm while waiting to be co-opted into the Chamonix Guides Company.

In 1942, Gaston Rébuffat earned his high-mountain guide certification despite his young age (21, while the required age was 23). He continued working as an instructor with the youth organization "Jeunesse et Montagne" (Youth and Mountain), and in 1944 became an instructor at the National School of Mountaineering (École Nationale d'Alpinisme) and the Military High Mountain School (École Militaire de Haute Montagne). In June 1945, he joined the prestigious Chamonix Guides Company under the tutelage of Alfred Couttet. He thus became the third "outsider" in the Company, after Roger Frison-Roche and Édouard Frendo, whereas traditionally, one had to be born in the valley to be admitted. A modest skier, he worked as a guide in the summer, but instead of being a ski instructor in the winter, he tried his hand at writing.