Old Man of Hoy

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The Old Man of Hoy, seen from the south

The Old Man of Hoy is a 137 metre (450 ft) sea stack of red sandstone perched on a plinth of igneous basalt, close to Rackwick Bay on the west coast of the island of Hoy, in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is a distinctive landmark seen from the Thurso to Stromness ferry and is a famous rock climb.

1 Location
2 History
3 Climbing records
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Location

The Old Man is reached by a path from Rackwick, a distance of about 4 km away. The route skirts above high cliffs, is very slippy and muddy in places and as a result can be a difficult route to undertake - possibly better described as a climb rather than a walk. Climbers / walkers are advised to allow at least 45 minutes each direction.

At the base of the walk there is a sign advising " Climbers are hereby warned that there is neither suitable rescue equipment nor experienced rock climbers in the vicinity climbers therefore proceed at their own risk".

[edit] History

The Old Man is probably less than 400 years old and may not get much older as there are indications that it will soon collapse. On maps drawn between 1600 and 1750 the area appears as a headland with no sea stack. William Daniell, a landscape painter sketched[1] the sea stack with two legs from which it derived its name (dates vary 1814-1819). A print of this drawing is still available in local museums. Sometime in the early 19th century, a storm washed away one of the legs leaving it much as it is today although erosion continues and a large portion is likely to soon break away.

The Old Man appears in the opening scene of the video to the Eurythmics' 1984 hit song Here Comes the Rain Again.

[edit] Climbing records

The stack was first climbed in 1966 by Chris Bonington, Rusty Baillie and Tom Patey over a period of three days. On July 8-9, 1967 an ascent was featured in a live BBC outside broadcast. This featured three pairs of climbers: Bonington and Patey repeated their original route; whilst two new lines were climbed - by Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis; and by Pete Crew and Dougal Haston.

On September 8th 2006 the stack was climbed by Sir Ranulph Fiennes (aged 62) in preparation for his proposed climb of the Eiger in the following year. He was accompanied by Sandy Ogilvie and Stephen Venables.

The stack now has a number of climbing routes, but the vast majority of ascents, of which there are 20 - 50 in an average year, are by the original and easiest route at the British grade of E1 (5b) - one route being an E6.