the Alps. Throughout his career, he guided many climbers and mountaineers, both new and experienced, up the mountains of the Alps. By the 1950s he was known as one of the foremost experts on the Mont Blanc Massif in the Alps, where he had set several routes himself. Alpine north faces One of Rébuffat's most famous accomplishments is his ascent of the six great north faces of the Alps. He began planning for his first ascent, the Grandes Jorasses, in the summer of 1938 at the age of 17, shortly after the first ascent of the mountain's north face by Italian mountaineers Riccardo Cassin, Gino Esposito, and Ugo Tizzoni. In 1943, Rébuffat made his first attempt at the summit but was not successful due to poor weather conditions. He returned to the mountain in July 1945 and successfully climbed the north face with the assistance of Édouard Frendo. In August 1949, he attempted and successfully completed an ascent of the northeast face of Piz Badile, during which he acted as a mountain guide for an amateur mountaineer. By this time, Rébuffat was among a handful of elite mountaineers to have climbed these faces. This led to his selection as one of the principal members of the 1950 Annapurna expedition. Over the next several years, he guided mountaineers, both new and experienced, up the remaining great north faces, the Petit Dru, the Matterhorn, the Cima Grande di Lavaredo, and the Eiger. Annapurna In 1950, Gaston Rébuffat was part of an expedition to summit Annapurna 1, the tallest point of the Annapurna Massif in the Himalayas and the tenth-highest peak in the world. The expedition was led by Maurice Herzog and also included French mountaineers Louis Lachenal and Lionel Terray. The expedition began in March 1950, with the actual ascent of Annapurna 1 beginning in May. During the ascent, a base camp and four intermediate camps were set up, with the highest being about 7400 meters in altitude. The summit itself was completed on 3 June 1950 by Herzog and Lachenal. While traveling down from the top camp, the four mountaineers were unable to locate the next camp and were forced to spend the night in a crevasse. All members survived the expedition, but Herzog and Lachenal later lost several fingers and toes due to severe frostbite. Although Rébuffat did not summit the mountain, he was instrumental in ensuring his injured colleagues