Charles Packe (22 August 1826 – 16 July 1896) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

who is noted for his travels in and writing about the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

Family

Packe was born in 1826, the oldest son of Edmund Packe, a captain in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

.Biography of Packe
, pyrenees-passion.com, accessed 22 January 2010

Pyrenees

Packe first went to the Pyrenees in 1853, making a traverse of the range. Two years later he travelled to the Alps, a description of which appeared in 1857 as ''The Spirit of Travel''. In 1857 and 1858 he returned to the Pyrenees for further explorative trips, and moved there permanently in 1859. In 1861 Packe made the second ascent of Posets (3371 m), the second-highest peak in the range, which had been first climbed in 1856 by H. Halket with the guides Pierre Redonnet and Pierre Barrau. Just as Packe's friend Henry Russell's name is linked with the

Vignemale The Vignemale (; Occitan: ''Vinhamala'', Aragonese: ''Comachibosa'', Catalan: ''Vinyamala''), at 3,298 metres, is the highest of the French Pyrenean summits (the highest in the whole of the range is Pic d'Aneto). It lies on the border between ...

, Packe's name is associated with the

Balaïtous The Balaitús (Spanish) or Pic du Balaïtous ( French) ( an, Pico Os Moros; oc, Vathleitosa) is a granitic massif of the Pyrenees, located right on the border between Spain and France. Geography Balaitús marks the starting point of the ''High ...

. The idea to try to climb this mountain came from his reading of John Ball's (the first president of the

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of which ...

) account of his unsuccessful attempt to climb it in 1861. After a failed attempt in 1862, on 15 September 1864 Packe reached the summit with his guide Jean-Pierre Gaspard of Arrens; they had spent a week trying to find a suitable route. Although they believed that they had made the first ascent, the mountain had been previously climbed in 1825 by the French army officers Peytier and Hossard, as geodesic technicians. The ridge by which Packe and Gaspard made their ascent is now known as the ''Arête Packe-Russell''.

A Guide to the Pyrenees

In 1862 Packe's ''A Guide to the Pyrenees'' (with the subtitle ''Especially Intended for the Use of Mountaineers'') was first published; the second edition was brought out by the London firm of Longmans, Green, and Co.''A Guide to the Pyrenees''
books.google.co.uk, accessed 22 January 2010

Societé Ramond

Packe was one of the founding members of the

Société Ramond The Société Ramond is a French learned society devoted to the study of the Pyrenees mountain range that forms a natural border between France and Spain. It is named after the French politician, geologist, botanist and explorer Louis Ramond de Ca ...

, a learned society devoted to the study of the Pyrenees and founded in 1864 or 1865 (authorities vary) in

Bagnères-de-Bigorre Bagnères-de-Bigorre (, literally ''Bagnères of Bigorre''; oc, label= Gascon, Banhèras de Bigòrra ) is a commune and subprefecture of the Hautes-Pyrénées Department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Name The town was known ...

by Henry Russell, Émilien Frossard,

Farnham Maxwell-Lyte Farnham Maxwell-Lyte FRSC (sometimes Farnham Maxwell Lyte) (10 January 1828 – 4 March 1906) was an English chemist and the pioneer of a number of techniques in photographic processing. As a photographer he is known for his views of the Frenc ...

and Packe.History of the Société Ramond
, ramond-societe.com, accessed 22 December 2009. Packe was the society's first assistant secretary.

Botany

Packe discovered several plant species that are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Pyrenees and also carried out a number of experiments when attempting to acclimatize rare plants in his garden.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Packe, Charles 1826 births 1896 deaths Members of the Société Ramond Pyrénéistes