What You Need To Know About Sea Stack Climbing
Posted by Jeremy Windsor on Aug 8, 2018
After more than a decade of trying, I finally completed the three Scottish sea stack "classics" last week - Am Buachaille, The Old Man Of Hoy and The Old Man Of Stoer. For anyone who loves adventurous HVS climbing they're a must!
If you're about to climb your first sea stack here are a 6 tips...
1 Time Flies!
Nothing takes as long to climb as a sea stack. Before scaling the three 20m pitches of Am Buachaille you'll need to walk in, organise your kit, swim across a 10m channel, haul your kit over and set up a belay. Once you've abseiled off, you then have to reverse the whole process. We were "car-to-car" in 8 hours. Only two were spent on the stack!
Am Buachaille (English translation - "The Herdsman")
2 There's No Such Thing As A Good Hold!
If it's not damp, loose or dirty it's not a hold on a sea stack! Poised precariously below the overhanging crack crux on the Old Man Of Hoy, I remember trying to bridge out and use holds on a ledge to my right. Over and over I brushed the dust off the ledge, only for another layer to appear. This process went on for what seemed like hours until I finally gave up and committed to the crucial jams!
3 Tides! Tides! Tides!
Am Buachaille and The Old Man Of Stoer are tidal. Aim to get to their bases at least two hours before low tide. Remember, the tides don't matter if there's a huge swell. Check the wind speed and direction before setting off. You'll get wet, cold and scared if you try to climb a sea stack in a gale!
4 A Sea Stack Is Not The Place To Learn How To Abseil!
The abseils on all three sea stacks are loooong! Using a prussic makes the abseil safer and smoother. If you've never used one before don't try it for the first time here. The final abseil off the Old Man Of Hoy only just makes it to the ground. Don't take anything less than a pair of 60m ropes! Take plenty of abseil tat too. Pre-existing belays deteriorate rapidly and quickly become unsafe.
The Old Man Of Stoer
5 The Birds! The Birds!
Nesting birds produce foul vomit at will. They're aim is excellent! Move past them quickly and quietly. If the mothers are protecting chicks they may make threatening movements towards you. In the past climbers have taken a set of large hexes or "sea gull bashers" for protection. Of course, this doesn't happen today with modern camming devices.
6 "Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance"
An old military phrase that is never more true than on a sea stack! Give yourself plenty of time, check the weather forecast carefully, work around the tide times and read the guidebook description. Above all, stay calm, communicate clearly and double check everything. There's a sobering story of a team on the top of the Old Man Of Stoer trying to rig an abseil as a storm gathered around them. In their haste they both untied from their ropes and watched them disappear down the stack. There can be few things worse than sitting on the top of a sea stack without a rope.
Good Luck!
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