Julius von Payer

Julius von Payer
Julius Payer as First Lieutenant. Picture taken by Fritz Luckhardt around 1865
Born	(1841-09-02)2 September 1841 Teplitz-Schönau, Bohemia, Austrian Empire
Died	29 August 1915(1915-08-29) (aged 73) Veldes, Upper Carniola, Austria-Hungary

Julius Johannes Ludovicus Ritter von Payer (2 September 1841 – 29 August 1915) was an Austro-Hungarian military officer, mountaineer, arctic explorer, cartographer, landscape artist and professor at the military academy.

Born Julius Payer, his father Franz Anton Rudolf Payer was a retired officer who died when Julius was only fourteen. Payer attended k.k. cadet school in Łobzów near Cracow (now Poland). Between 1857 and 1859 he studied at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt (near Vienna). In 1859 he served as a sub-lieutenant with the 36th infantry regiment in Verona, Northern Italy. He participated in the 1859 Battle of Solferino. Between 1860 and 1863 he served at the garrison in Verona, Italy. In 1863 Payer was assigned as a history teacher to the cadet school in Eisenstadt, Austria. After promotion to the rank of lieutenant first class he was posted to the garrison of Venetia.

On 24 June 1866 he was heroic at the Battle of Custoza, seizing two guns, and was decorated.

In 1862 he started exploratory tours of the Tyrolean Alps and Hohe Tauern in his free time. After 1864 he explored the Adamello-Presanella Group and the Ortler Alps, making more than 60 first ascents. In 1864 he was, with his guide Giovanni Caturani, the first to climb Adamello (3,554 m) and missed making the first ascent of the Presanella (3,558 m) by just three weeks. All his explorations in the Ortler massif (from 1865 to 1868) were guided by from Sulden. Together, often accompanied by a porter, they ascended almost all significant unclimbed summits, including the Hoher Angelus (3,521 m), Vertainspitze (3,545 m), Palon de la Mare (3,703 m), Monte Zebru (3,735), and Monte Cevedale (3,769 m). Their new approach to the Ortler (3,905 m) became the normal route of ascent ever since. His tours resulted in creating a detailed topographical map at a scale 1:56,000. Due to his achievements, Payer was transferred to the Austrian Military Cartographical Institute in Vienna. When in 1875, the first Alpine club hut above 3000 m was built on the normal route to the Ortler, it was named in his honor.