Horace Walker

Horace Walker (sitting, 3rd from left), Lucy Walker (standing, 3rd from left) and Melchior Anderegg (standing, 4th from left)

Horace Walker (1838 – 1908) was an English mountaineer who made the first ascent of the Grandes Jorasses.

Born in 1838, Walker was the son of Liverpool lead merchant and mountaineer Francis Walker (1808–1872) and brother of Lucy Walker (1836–1916), the first woman to climb the Matterhorn.

In commemoration of his first ascent of the Grandes Jorasses on 30 June 1868, the highest point of the mountain (Pointe Walker, 4,208 m) is named after him. This summit has given its name to the Walker spur, the most well-known buttress on the north face and one of the great north faces of the Alps.

The Grandes Jorasses. Pointe Walker is the highest summit, at the top of the Walker spur

First ascents

• Piz Roseg (Bernina Alps) with A. W. Moore, and the guide Jakob Anderegg on 28 June 1865
• Ober Gabelhorn (Pennine Alps) with A. W. Moore, and Jakob Anderegg on 6 July 1865
• Pigne d'Arolla (Pennine Alps) with A. W. Moore, and Jakob Anderegg on 9 July 1865
• Brenva Spur on Mont Blanc with George Spencer Mathews, A. W. Moore, Francis Walker, and the guides Jakob Anderegg and Melchior Anderegg on 15 July 1865

• Grandes Jorasses with guides Melchior Anderegg, Johann Jaun and Julien Grange on 30 June 1868