In mountaineering

Mountaineering

Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...

, the six great north faces of the Alps (also called the six 'classic north faces') are known for their difficulty and great height. They are:

• Cima Grande di Lavaredo
• Eiger
  Eiger
  The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m...
  
  
• Grandes Jorasses
  Grandes Jorasses
  The Grandes Jorasses is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif.The first ascent of the highest peak of the mountain was by Horace Walker with guides Melchior Anderegg, Johann Jaun and Julien Grange on 30 June 1868...
  
  
• Matterhorn
  Matterhorn
  The Matterhorn , Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points...
  
  
• Petit Dru
  Aiguille du Dru
  The Aiguille du Dru is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps, lying to the east of the village of Les Praz in the Chamonix valley.The mountain has two summits:...
  
  
• Piz Badile
  Piz Badile
  Piz Badile is a mountain in the Bregaglia range in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and Italy, the border between the two countries running along the summit ridge. Its northeast face is considered one of the six great north faces of the Alps....
  
  

Attaining the first ascent of each of these six faces was a major preoccupation of the best European climbers in the 1930s. Gaston Rébuffat

Gaston Rébuffat

Gaston Rébuffat was a well-known French alpinist and mountain guide. The climbing technique, to gaston, was named after him. He was a recipient of France's prestigious Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1984....

, a Chamonix mountain guide and renowned French alpinist, was the first to successfully climb all six of these north faces. His 1954 work, Etoiles et Tempêtes (Starlight and Storm), chronicles these climbs.

Three of these north faces—the Eiger, the Matterhorn and the Grandes Jorasses—are considerably harder to climb than the other three. This led to their becoming known as 'the Trilogy'. The first to climb these three faces within a year was the Austrian Leo Schlömmer, from the summer of 1961 to the summer of 1962. Ivano Ghirardini

Ivano Ghirardini

Ivano Ghirardini is an Italian-born French mountaineer.He was born in Montefiorino in Emilia-Romagna. He left Italy with his family in 1954 and was naturalized in 1972....

 was the first to climb the Trilogy in winter, solo (1977-78). With the introduction of the concept of enchainment

Enchainment

Enchainment is a mountaineering term that denotes climbing two or more mountains – or routes on a mountain – in one outing . Rock climbing two or more routes in this manner is called a "link up" in the US...

, the race was on to climb all three faces in one outing, a race eventually won by Christophe Profit who achieved the feat between 11–12 March 1987 in a time of 24 hours.