Old Man of Stoer
Back by popular demand, UKC user David Linnett has shared his latest video of a recent trip to climb the super-classic the Old Man of Stoer in the far North West of Scotland. One of the "Big 3" sea stacks in Scotland, along with Am Buchaille and the Old Man of Hoy, this Old Man is reputed by many to be the finest of them all.
David told UKC:
'Often with sea stacks you can sacrifice a bit of quality, what with the associated guano, vegetation plus loose rock for the sake of adventure, but this is certainly not the case with this sandstone-tastic Torridonian beauty and it is absolute angel delight to climb. With an "exciting scramble" for the descent followed by a tasty Tyrolean Traverse for maximum adrenaline flow, the classic VS 5a Original Route comprises 5 magical pitches of superbly rough grained climbing nirvana to the top of this 60 metre high behemoth. As an added bonus we were very lucky to have a perfect day of weather with glorious sunshine and light winds, so even Arnie the Drone took to the skies to have a buzz around the bay. Ironically the day before our ascent it had rained non-stop for 24 hours, but the skies magically cleared overnight and the warm sun dried off the rock very quickly so even the notoriously damp and greasy 5a first pitch traverse was bone dry.'
He added:
'Hopefully it will inspire a few folks to head to the beautiful Sutherland region of Scotty and climb on one of the great sea stacks of the UK!'