Henry Russell (explorer)

Henry Patrick Marie, Count Russell-Killough (1834–1909) was one of the pioneers of Pyrenean exploration, known for his obsession with the Vignemale.

[1][2] Thomas John Russell emigrated to France aged 22 to escape anti-Catholic discrimination in Ireland.

[4] Henry was born in Toulouse to Thomas' second wife, Marie-Josephine-Aglaë-Ferdinande, daughter of the Marquis de Flamarens.

He travelled to Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Irkutsk and Beijing, crossing the Gobi Desert twice and descending the Amur River.

On his own or in the company of his guides, he made numerous first ascents, surviving financially on his personal fortune and his investments.

Being keen to spend nights on the Vignemale, he bivouacked in the open – buried by his guides in a blanket of rocks and earth – on the summit of Pic Longue on 26 August 1880.

He organized sumptuous and legendary banquets at these caves, receiving princes and notables there on Persian carpets and styling himself as the Comte des Monts.

Henry Russell
The north face of the Vignemale; Russell's Bellevue caves are out of sight, to the left of the photo
Henry Russell in front of one of his caves on the Vignemale
The entrances to Russell's caves above the Glacier d'Ossoue, Vignemale
Russell (right) and the baron de Lassus (left) in Luchon , in 1895, photograph by Eugène Trutat
Henry Russell