Rébuffat Gaston

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Biografie:
Gaston Rébuffat
Vita *7. 5. 1921 Marseille; ab 1942 Bergführer in Chamonix; Ausbilder beim Alpinistenclub »Jeunesse et Montagne« (»Jugend und Berge«); seit 1947 Mitglied des »Groupe de Haute Montagne«; Autor mehrerer Bergbücher.
Chronik Gaston Rebuffet ist wohl eine der herausragendsten Persönlichkeiten des Alpinismus nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Vor allem in den vierziger Jahren erregten seine Wiederholungen extrem schwieriger Routen Aufsehen. Seine ersten Kletterversuche startete er an den Klippen der Calanques, einem Kletterparadies nahe Marseille. Die Besteigung der Barre des Ecrins in den Dauphiné-Alpen wurde für ihn zum Schlüsselerlebnis. Hier erlag er der Faszination der Berge, die ihn nie mehr loslassen sollte. Seine bedeutendsten Unternehmungen sind Walkerpfeiler an den Grandes Jorasses (2. Beg. 1945), die erste Begehung des Südostsporns des Aiguille di Midi, die Sorgges-Nordwand (1945), die Dru-Nordwand (VI, A 1 ; 1946), die zweite Begehung der Piz-Badile-Nordostwand (VI-; 1947), die Nordwand der Großen Zinne (VI; 1949) die Matterhorn-Nordwand (1949), die Eiger-Nordwand (1952) und die Südwand des Grand Capucin (V+, A3; 1953). 1950 war er Teilnehmer der französischen Himalaya-Expedition unter Maurice Herzog zur Annapurna I. Auch wenn er nicht zu den Gipfelsiegern gehörte, so war er doch entscheidend an deren Erfolg beteiligt. Gaston Rébuffat wollte aber nicht nur selbst die Schönheit der Berge erleben. Als Autor einiger fesselnder Bergbücher läßt er auch andere an seinen Erlebnissen teilhaben, die er in packender Form zu schildern versteht. So veröffentlichte er die Bücher »Sterne und Stürme«, »Zwischen Himmel und Erde«, »Zwischen Montblanc und Himalaya«, sowie »In Fels und Firn« und »Das Matterhorn«. Zwei seiner Bücher wurden auch verfilmt: »Sterne und Stürme« und »Zwischen Himmel und Erde«, das den Beruf des Bergführers schildert. Gaston Rébuffat zeigte diese Filme auf Vorträgen in ganz Europa und brachte so vielen Menschen die Schönheit der Bergwelt nahe.
-y-
Quelle: Der Bergsteiger 1982, Heft 8, Seite 56-57

Gaston Rebuffat
konnte nach 14iähriger Pause im Kongreßsaal des Deutschen Museums in München ein Comeback feiern mit seinem Film »Neue Horizonte«. Rebuffat, der berühmte französische Bergführer, Filmer und Buchautor (14 Bücher, die in ein halbes Dutzend Fremdsprachen übersetzt wurden), hatte in den fünfziger Jahren mit seinem Film »Sterne und Stürme« eine Generation von Alpinisten begeistert. Der Film »Neue Horizonte« des
jetzt 56jährigen war ein Bergfilm, wie er seit langem nicht mehr gezeigt worden war.
Quelle: Der Bergsteiger 1978, Heft 2, Seite 117

Quelle: Der Bergsteiger 1983, Heft 8, Seite 66-67 (im Anhang)

Gaston Rebuffat 1921-1985
Gaston Rebuffat, who died in Paris on 31st May after a long illness at the age of 64, was one of the outstanding French mountaineers who came to prominence at the end of the war. Following his first major Alpine climb, the N face of the Grandes Jorasses by the Walker Spur in 1941, he proceeded to acquire an international reputation by climbing many routes which were, in their day, in the first order of difficulty; his fame was enhanced through his books, lectures and films.
Gaston was born in Marseilles in 1921 and spent his boyhood in Provence. Throughout his life he retained the distinctive drawl of a Marseillais. Although his subsequent profession as a guide and his lecture tours took him far afield, he never lost his love for the Midi and, in later years, he spent a part of every winter with his family at their apartment in Cannes.
It was in Provence, on the limestone pinnacles of the Calanques, towering above the Mediterranean, that Gaston made his debut as a climber. His description of his feelings on that occasion will find an echo in the memories of many mountaineers:
'Nous allons en silence. Au fond de moi-meme je sens une joie, mais aussi un pincement de coeur. A ce jour-la, je n'avais jamais ete encorde.'
His first Alpine climb, the traverse of the Barre des Ecrins at the age of 17 was for him, as it was for myself at the same age, a revelation; there and then he resolved to make climbing his life and livelihood. At the early age of 21 he obtained his professional Guide's certificate and became, successively, an instructor at the Ecole d'Alpinisme (later to be enlarged as the Ecole de Ski et d'Alpinisme) and at the Ecole Militaire de Haute Montagne.
Then came fame through his part, with two other Chamonix guides: Louis Lachenal and Lionel Terray, as a member of Maurice Herzog's triumphant expedition to Annapurna in 1950, which achieved the first ascent of an 8000m peak. Gaston's performance in escorting down the mountain the summit pair in a storm, both of them badly frostbitten and suffering from exposure after spending a night in a crevasse, was nothing short of heroic.
It was at that time, while serving with the Allied forces at Fontainebleau, that I first met Gaston at Chamonix. In the following few years we often climbed together, setting off from his chalet 'La Dy' above the town. Some of our climbs: on the Peuterey Ridge, the Ryan-Lochmatter ridge on the Plan and an abortive ascent of Mont Blanc on skis, were dogged or frustrated by bad
weather. But to Gaston it never seemed to matter. For him, being with a companion on a mountain was enough. What mattered was, in his own words:
'L'amitie de deux etres pour le meilleur et pour le pire.'
He was just as happy about the minor climbs which he, with my wife and myself, also did together, on the granite needles of the Clochers-Clochetons on the Brevent, and even on the sandstone boulders in the Forest of Fontainebleau. The summit was of far less importance than friendship on the steep places of the earth. For myself there was also the delight, as well as the lessons to be learnt, from watching Gaston's lithe agility, as he moved with relaxed elegance up vertical rock, or traversed a tilted ice face on his crampon points.
He was an obvious contact for supplying equipment from French firms for the 1953 Everest expedition. I recall that our 'Duvet' clothing, ice axes and crampons, inter alia, were obtained through his good offices.
Gaston was a gifted writer in the romantic tradition. Every mountain experience was for him; 'comme la premiere fois'; his books reflect this approach to his subject. It set quite a problem for myself and Wilfrid Noyce, who translated his first book Etoiles et Tempetes, in which he recorded his experiences on six great north face climbs in the Alps, published in 1955. His other works included Du Mont Blanc a L'Himalaya in the same year, and two instructional books; Neige el Roe and Glace, Neige et Roe, published in 1959 and 1970.
With Maurice Baquet and others as climbing companions and Georges Tairraz as photographer, he made a number of successful films, one of which Etoiles el Tempeles was awarded the Grand Prix at the International Festival at Trento in 1958.
I counted myself privileged to have been invited by him to take part in another film, in which he recalled climbs with some of his many clients and companions over the years of his service as a member of the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix; he wanted me to re-enact, with him, my own climbs on the Barre des Ecrins which had been the source of his own inspiration for a lifetime. Prudence, and the excuse of other engagements dictated otherwise, but I retain a lingering regret that I did not avail of this last chance to climb with one of the leading mountaineers of my times; and, more important, with a valued friend who placed the meeting of men in relation to mountains, way beyond the creation of records and the pursuit of prowess.
John Hunt
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 91, 1986, Seite 282-283


Geboren am:
07.05.1921
Gestorben am:
31.05.1985
Rebuffat Gaston - Bergsteiger 1983-8.pdf