Trip Report
Old Man of Stoer sea stack in Scotland
Monday October 10, 2016 8:01am
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Warm greetings to you all on a sunny day from Bristol in the UK!
For anyone interested here's a short video I made about a recent trip to climb and film the super-classic 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. And often with sea stacks you can sacrifice a bit of quality of climbing 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. So with an "exciting scramble" just to get to the base of the stack, 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. Anyway the entertainment was duly recorded so if interested in viewing a short video featuring Tyrolean Traverses, time lapses, seals, sandstone shenanigans, eye-popping exposure plus some aerial drone footage then the following embedded video is the story of our day.
[ Click to View YouTube Video]
All constructive feedback welcome, please feel free to share and hopefully it will inspire a few folks to head to the beautiful Sutherland region of Scotland and climb on one of the great sea stacks of the UK!
Happy climbing! :-)
Dave
Bald Eagle
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About the Author Bald Eagle is a trad climber from the UK |
Comments
WBraun
climber
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Oct 10, 2016 - 08:13am PT
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Wow, nice weather you had.
When I was in Scottland on old man of Hoy it wasn't warm like your trip.
Nice video too reminded me of the place.
How come no trees there I ask.
Did they all cut em down to make golf courses?
They laughed ......
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 10, 2016 - 10:06am PT
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Good thing earthquakes are a rarity there, eh? Nicely done vid!
A pity I only enjoyed a winter in Scotland. Who knew it ever got warm and sunny?
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Oct 10, 2016 - 05:52pm PT
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To cool for school
And send the politards to face their lack of what matters
Excellent climbing.! Thnx for sharing, how about the same treatment
If something on the Isle of Skye?
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Oct 10, 2016 - 12:14pm PT
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What an atmosphere... climbing a dream...
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Oct 10, 2016 - 12:16pm PT
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Fantastic TR! Bump for climbing material.
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lars johansen
Trad climber
West Marin, CA
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Oct 10, 2016 - 12:34pm PT
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Loved it! thanks-lars
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Oct 10, 2016 - 01:06pm PT
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Wonderful!
John
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The Lisa
Trad climber
Da Bronx, NY
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Oct 10, 2016 - 01:51pm PT
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The rock looks so clean and dry! Nicely edited video and music.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Oct 10, 2016 - 02:09pm PT
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Lovely!
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i-b-goB
Big Wall climber
Nutty
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Oct 10, 2016 - 02:50pm PT
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Really good!
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Oct 10, 2016 - 03:14pm PT
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hey there say, ... bald eagle... WOW... love it!!
thank you so very very much, for sharing this!
:)
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moacman
Trad climber
Montuckyian Via Canada Eh!
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Oct 10, 2016 - 05:00pm PT
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Very nice. My bro and his wife were up in that area last year and loved it...Thanx for sharing......
Stevo
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Oct 11, 2016 - 01:10am PT
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Good morning all from a foggy, grey day in Bristol and I have just tuned in and "Wowser" thanks a million W Braun, Reilly, Gnome, Tami, Marlow, fear, lars, JEleazarian, The Lisa, Mungeclimber, i-d-goB, neebee and moacman for taking the time to post all your kind words as it is muchly appreciated and makes all those long hours of editing worthwhile!
So just to answer of few questions:
Gnome - I have climbed on the amazing Isle of Skye a few times before on and around the Cioch and also did the mega Cuillin Ridge in a oner years ago. However it would be really cool to go back and film something again, with Arnie the Drone. Maybe Integrity in Corrie Lagan, the Inn Pinn or even the whole ridge again... :-)
Tami - We were having a lovely 2 week Scottish road trip using our Vee-Dub campervan so quite a straightforward drive from Bristol to Scotty and then driving around chasing the weather whilst being chased by the Scottish midges! Anyway I stupidly left my 60M ropes in our van and we used 2 x 50's for the climb instead, meaning we had to do 2 raps whereas we could have just made it to the ground in a oner with my 60's. The tat was pretty good but we backed it up with a bit of new cord!
Anyway I better get to work so thanks once again and I'll try and pop back later today if anyone wants to know any more details!
Happy Tuesday! :-)
Dave
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Oct 11, 2016 - 11:10am PT
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Definitely no "glass ceilings" on that route. Nice!
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Lassitude 33
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Oct 11, 2016 - 11:28am PT
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Really enjoyed that a lot. Makes you appreciate how fun climbing can be and how you can go amazing places. Thanks for putting this video together.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Oct 11, 2016 - 11:49am PT
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A really, really great video! Thanks for putting that up for us!
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feralfae
Boulder climber
Montana, on the Divide and around.
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Oct 11, 2016 - 12:12pm PT
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Thank you for a superb entertaining TR.
It brought back a lot of memories.
Thank you and I hope you will do more TRs of this genre.
feralfae
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clode
Trad climber
portland, or
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Oct 11, 2016 - 12:21pm PT
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TOTALLY PSYCHED!!! Now that's an understatement! Could not have been better conditions, eh? BEP knows what they're doing! Oh no, wait, what have I done? I've watched climbing porn, and have enjoyed it! Me bad! But seriously, keep up the good work. I'd like to see more from BEP!
I forgot to ask, is that the easiest route up the Old Man? What's the YDS grade equivalent?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Oct 11, 2016 - 03:32pm PT
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That's one tower that sleazy promoter won't get his name on!
First ascent in 1966 by Brian Henderson, Paul Nunn, Tom Patey and Brian Robertson, wittily reported by Patey in his One Man's Mountains.
I wonder what the origins of the name are? There's also an Old Man of Storr in Skye. Both areas saw considerable Norse settlement - and "stor" means "big" in that language.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Oct 11, 2016 - 05:28pm PT
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Nice video.
My friend Doug Pearson lives near there. He said the climb was a lot of fun, now I can see why.
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Oct 12, 2016 - 01:43am PT
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Warm greetings from the UK again and a maa-hoosive thanks to ydpl8s, looking sketchy, skcreidc, feralfae, clode and mighty hiker for taking the time to post your kind words!
To answer clode's question the classic Original Route which goes at Very Severe 5a (or YDS around 5.7 to 5.8 I think) is the easiest route up this Old Man. However you can avoid the burly crux 5a first pitch and scramble around the back of the stack if the tide is low enough and thus reduce the grade to around HS 4b or around 5.6... :-)
For anyone interested in seeing more BEP climbing vids of this type I'll dig out another recent outing climbing on the amazing chalk Skeleton Ridge at the iconic Needles on the Isle of Wight soon when I get a bit more time!
Happy climbing!
Dave
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Oct 12, 2016 - 12:39pm PT
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Smooth, like 'Ladies' Whisky.'
Perhaps Un-Scot but I approve.
Could have been improved by a turf-stake rappel but not every climb can be everything to everyone.
Andy Cairns
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Oct 13, 2016 - 07:36am PT
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Hey Timid TopRope and MH2 many thanks once again for taking the time to post your kind words and I really appreciate your appreciation!
Happy Climbing!
Dave
Ps and yes the sun does occasionally shine in Scotland... :-)
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
Wilds of New Mexico
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Oct 13, 2016 - 08:02am PT
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Awesome!! I've climbed a lot of desert spires and going to Scotland and Ireland to climb sea stacks is a dream trip for me. Thanks!!!
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Oct 13, 2016 - 11:16am PT
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Hey ontheedge thanks a million for the positive vibes and glad you enjoyed my wee video! Dream the dream and go climb some of those sea stacks... :-) Cheers Dave
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 13, 2016 - 02:53pm PT
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Just watched your Skeleton Ridge video. I should say your matron needs
to keep a closer eye on your unsupervised outings, lad. That sort of
thing will not bring you to a better grasp of reality, trust me. But
it was another nicely done video, if somewhat sphincter-tightening!
Oh, and those rusty pegs? Who put them in, Aleister Crowley?
edit:
Your video brought up one on the old tunnels there. They look to be
from the 1930's. Not sure you'd catch me in them, neither, especially
seeing all the rock, or whatever that stuff is, that has caved in!
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Oct 13, 2016 - 05:32pm PT
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Thanks Bald Eagle for sharing your adventure with your friends . . . way to deploy the rope gun women!
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Oct 14, 2016 - 03:02am PT
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Hey Reilly
I'm glad you enjoyed my Skeleton Ridge vid and I'll dig the film out and post it on here for anyone interested in some chalky shenanigans when I have a spare mo! The rusty pegs may date back to the legendary Brit Mick Fowler who was the first ascensionist back in November 1984! :-)
Cheers
Dave
Ps I hope your sphincter has recovered and relaxed a bit now... ;-)
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Oct 14, 2016 - 03:04am PT
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Thanks Kalimon for the positive words and the Divine Miss Em (aka Pug) who led all the pitches on the route has some serious ninja warrior climbing skills! :-) Cheers Dave
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moacman
Trad climber
Montuckyian Via Canada Eh!
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Oct 18, 2016 - 03:44pm PT
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Bump......Because it's good.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Oct 18, 2016 - 04:44pm PT
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Beautiful! Colour me green with envy. Great work, Dave!
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Oct 19, 2016 - 12:54am PT
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Thanks a million Stevo + Fossil man and your kind words are muchly appreciated! :-) Cheers Dave
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Rustie
climber
Coeur d\\\\\\\'Alene
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Nice video. Spooky feeling-- that sea gull's view.
Can't believe the weather.....and no one was swatting at midges! I'm always amazed that those things haven't fallen down by now. But that climbing looked really good.
Might have to nip back across The Pond and check it out.........and the beer is certainly outstanding.
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Bald Eagle
Trad climber
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Author's Reply
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Nov 2, 2016 - 03:32am PT
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Nice video. Spooky feeling-- that sea gull's view.
Can't believe the weather.....and no one was swatting at midges! I'm always amazed that those things haven't fallen down by now. But that climbing looked really good.
Might have to nip back across The Pond and check it out.........and the beer is certainly outstanding.
Hey Rustie a big old thanks for taking the time to post and glad you enjoyed my wee video! The climbing on the Old Man is superb and the roughly grained sandstone is immaculate so well worth a visit if you are ever in the UK! And the single malts in Scotland are pretty darn good too... :-)
Cheers
Dave
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