WITH his goatee beard and lean outline he gazes from his statue in a small Pyrenean town, a legendary figure and mountaineer extraordinaire. Count Henry Russell, who died 100 years ago this month, was a lover of the Pyrenees, a man seduced by the mountain air and the beauty of the peaks.
Exotically named Comte Henry Patrick Marie Russell-Killough, he came from a long lineage associated with Killough Castle in Co Down and was known as the Baron of Ulster. In the 11th century the Irish Russells were given the title after being granted lands when they helped Henry II to invade Ireland.
Henry’s father, Thomas John Russell, left Ireland for France when he was 22, fleeing the oppression of Catholics. Henry was born in Toulouse on St Valentine’s Day 1834 but his family retained their connection to Ireland, travelling frequently to and from their ancestral lands in south Down. By the time Henry was born, Killough Castle was in ruins but the family held on to their territory until the end of the 19th century, when they settled in Dublin.
The young Henry was educated at Clongowes Wood College and later studied chemistry at Dublin University. He made regular trips to the west of Ireland, where he fell in love with the wild landscape and developed a love of mountain grandeur.
His family often returned to the Pyrenees and he grew up bilingual. He climbed many of the main peaks stretching from La Rhune, the mountain of the Basques near St-Jean-de-Luz in the west, across to Canigou, the sacred mountain of the Catalans in the east. But the one with which he will forever be associated is Vignemale in the Midi-Pyrenees, which rises to a height of 3,298 metres. He was just six when he first saw it with his mother, although he didn’t climb it until many years later.
He grew to love Vignemale so much that he climbed it 33 times and, with the help of local masons, dug seven tiny cave-homes on it. In 1882 he worked on a set of three caves near the head of the Ossoue glacier.
Although climbing was increasing in popularity as a sport in Russell’s time, most of the Pyrenees was still an unexplored wilderness. The Alpine Club was founded in Britain in 1858 and although British adventurers had explored the Alps few had ever visited the Pyrenees. Russell didn’t like the Alps, saying they inspired terror and the Pyrenees tenderness. He spent long periods in his mountain retreat entertaining friends, insisting they get up at dawn to see the sunrise and rewarding them with punch. Sumptuous dinners and wine were often served – he was partial to a bottle of vintage white Bordeaux.
A man with incredible stamina, he was a prodigious walker, hiking 12 hours at a stretch and each year conquering new peaks or revisiting old favourites. Apart from Vignemale, he climbed the Pic du Midi 30 times. He also tackled the highest point, Nethou, four times and once spent the night sleeping on its summit. He enjoyed the pleasures of a cigar and a celebratory smoke on many mountain tops. Russell was also a socialite and when he wasn’t tramping the hills, he spent time attending balls, banquets, dinners and soirées. On a practical level he initiated the building of the refuges – the mountain huts of which there are more than 100 in the Pyrenees where walkers sleep overnight.
Henry Russell died at the age of 75 on February 5th 1809. He is buried in the family mausoleum in the cemetery at Pau. Spend a few days in the area and you will come across reminders of him everywhere. He lived most of his adult life in the town, and a street is named after him. A plaque on his house records that he lived at No. 14 rue Marca. The Musée Pyrenean in the Chateau of Lourdes houses a collection of his books (now extremely rare) alongside his water gourd and compass. Russell wrote a number of books in both English and French, including Pau and the Pyrenees, Les Grandes Ascensions(a mountain-climbing guide) and Souvenirs dun Montagnard(Memories of a Mountain Dweller), which is regarded as his masterpiece.
In the centre of the mountain range, Luchon, known as the Queen of the Pyrenees, is still a gracious spa town with long avenues, several grand hotels and elegant balconied houses. In the 1860s it was a place that attracted serious mountaineers and Russell was a frequent visitor staying in fashionable hotels. A room in the museum is devoted to Pyrénéisme, best defined as an attitude of mind that adopts a holistic approach to mountain activity and embraces an appreciation of the outdoors. Here you can see a selection of sedan chairs, battered hobnailed boots, ancient crampons, iron-tipped alpenstocks and tin lanterns. The museum also displays a selection of Russell’s photographs attracting considerable interest amongst visitors. The ultimate accolade, though, was the naming of one of the Pyrenean peaks, Pic Russell, in his honour.
Today the most visible public legacy of this eccentric and passionate montagnard is his bronze statue in the mountain village of Gavarnie, a replacement for one melted down by the Nazis. It depicts Russell gazing west up the Ossoue valley towards the majestic Vignemale and the area where he had found everything he wanted: peaks, lakes, valleys, precipices, waterfalls, forests and glaciers. The statue is so tangible you feel he could suddenly step up from his seat and tell you something about his beloved Vignemale, a mountain about which he once declared: “She will be my spouse”.