213 Years on The Old Man of Hoy
Talk about being out of my depth, I had just tied onto the ropes and was about to start leading the first pitch of the imposing and intimidating Old Man of Hoy a sandstone sea stack towering 450 feet above me, I set off thinking “too late to turn back now mate”.
Jim an old climbing friend and I had both turned 50 earlier this year and during a discussion 6 months earlier about climbing ambitions we hit on a shared dream to climb The Old Man of Hoy. There was however a slight problem, the second pitch on Hoy is E1 5b (too hard for us bumblers)!
To overcome this barrier we hatched a cunning plan to recruit a young rock jock who could lead this pitch and then more importantly haul us both up behind. The recruitment process was straightforward enough, however the young rock jock turned out to be Paul Evans who weighs in at 57 years of age, but he regularly shows off by climbing E2’s, it was now getting scary as this plan was starting to come together. The next step in fulfilling this dream was to find a driver and digs on the Isle of Hoy, this is where Ken, Jim’s mechanic and 56 year old climbing buddy (with friends who live in Hoy) stepped in. Ken made it clear from the start that he hadn’t climbed for over 6 months and had no intention of Climbing the Old Man, he also stressed that he hated abseiling and would be scared shitless abseiling off a Sea Stack.
So it was with a mix of excitement and trepidation that the 4 of us with a combined age of 213 years set off from Manchester at midnight on a Friday night for a long night driving North. Ken and Paul heroically shared the driving whilst Jim and I snoozed in the back of the car in preparation for the climb ahead (the new recruits were really starting to deliver the goods). The blue sky and sparkling sea on the drive along the Northern Coast of Scotland on Saturday morning was unexpected and a delight to drive through (or should I say be driven through).
On the ferry to Stromness on Mainland Orkney we caught our first glimpse of the Old Man passing by at fairly close quarters, the sight of the sea stack and huge St Johns Head sea cliffs was awe inspiring and left us all silent in our own thoughts (the dream was getting a bit too real). Once in Stromness we had a few hours to kill in glorious sunshine whilst we waited for the short ferry trip across to the neighbouring Isle of Hoy.
We were met on Hoy by Ken’s friend’s John and Stephanie, who had moved from Glossop to Hoy several years ago, their warm welcome and generous hospitality was thoroughly enjoyed for the next 3 days. Over dinner that night it was agreed that Ken would actually join us on the climb as the weather conditions were looking so perfect (I think the wine made him temporarily forget about the abseil). We awoke on Sunday morning to a very clear and calm day, it was however quite cold first thing so we decided to leave the start of the climb until late morning.
The walk over the moors from the hostel just above the idyllic Rackwick Bay took about 40 minutes, the first glimpse of the top of the Old Man peeping out above the moor was actually quite calming as it looked friendly and inviting, however upon reaching the cliff edge this all changed as the true scale of the challenging climb was all too clear to see. The steep and airy decent path down to the base of the stack was in reasonable condition due to the dry weather, in wet weather this path must be a bloody nightmare.
The first pitch was pleasant climbing on surprisingly sound rock with ample holds and good protection placements, Jim and Paul soon followed me up to the large belay ledge where Jim located himself close to eastern edge of the ledge to enable him to belay and watch Paul whilst he tackled the crux second pitch. Paul was very cool as he traversed onto the exposed Old Man’s East Face on sand laden holds. The build up of sand on the traverse holds was incredible, huge amounts of sand are deposited onto these ledges by the natural drainage from the cracks above. Paul quickly climbed the exposed and dramatic rock leading into the cave like chimney where he placed some really good protection prior to attacking the crux overhanging crack, when established above the overhang Paul continued up the steep crack that led to a small belay ledge.
Jim followed Paul without fuss and Ken climbed up to join me on the top of the first pitch. I found the second pitch quite intimidating and very strenuous, but having a complete lack of ethics and realising that the clock was ticking I pulled on the protection in place including the old slings wrapped around the timber wedges that still appeared to be in excellent condition. However, when I got to the belay ledge it was clear that the rope connecting back to Ken was stuck fast and would not pull through (I had clipped the back rope through protection below the overhang which was a bit daft), so there was no choice but to be lowered back down below the crux to remove the protection and free the rope, I therefore had to climb back up without the protection to pull on and I felt quite drained when I finally reached Paul and Jim back on the belay ledge. Ken showing incredible patience and considerable climbing ability was soon with us on the belay ledge.
Jim and I lead the broken and loose 3rd and 4th pitches which were a tad unnerving due to the poor quality of rock and lack of good protection, however the belays were safe and quite spacious, which enabled the full team to gather and engage in good quality banter.
Jim lead and I followed up the fantastic last pitch of the climb up a corner crack that at the top actually splits the sea stack in two to enable you to see the sea on the other side. I joined Jim on the magical summit of the Old Man of Hoy in glorious sunshine at 5pm just as the Stromness to Scrabster Ferry was passing by below, I could also see Glossop John on the cliff tops opposite taking photos of us taking photos of him. I thought for a moment of the first team to climb the Old Man back in the 1960’s Tom Patey, Chris Bonnington and Rustie Baillie. I also recalled being inspired back in 1984 watching Joe Brown and his daughter Zoë make a very fluid ascent of the Old Man of Hoy for a BBC live bank holiday broadcast.
We didn’t allow ourselves to relax too much as we need to focus on the tricky abseil descent ahead. Paul and Ken did not join us on the summit as they had made the decision to prepare the abseils at the top of the fourth pitch to make sure we all had a safe and speedy descent.
The first 3 abseils were quite short and were uneventful except for the rope getting stuck on one abseil requiring Jim to climb / prusik back up to free the rope. At the top of the second pitch we arranged a 60m free abseil, which enables you to reach the bottom of the stack. Paul was the first to abseil from the ledge and at this point I noticed Ken’s worried demeanour, I also recalled his comments about hating abseiling and being scared shitless of abseiling off a Sea Stack, he didn’t speak or smile again until his feet finally touched down at the base of the stack eight and a half hours after we had set off on this adventure.
The next few days were spent exploring the wonderful sights of the Orkneys and enjoying the hospitality of our hosts prior to heading South to Torridon where Jim and I rounded our trip off by climbing another Patey/Bonnington classic route Cioch Nose, whilst our Rock Jock and Ken showed off their climbing prowess with a clean ascent of the classic line at Diabaig; The Pillar E2 5b.
Sometimes in life things just fall into place and all you have to do is turn up, this was definitely one of those occasions where everything just felt so right, people, weather, place and of course one of the most sought after climbs in the UK.
Wow, what a great adventure! Jim, thanks mate for sharing this magical dream.
Liam Brady
