A Climbing Guide For The Old Man Of Hoy
This guide will cover most of the ins and outs of climbing the East face Original Route up the Old Man of Hoy – it is meant to be 5 pitches and 3 abseils but it is much nicer to do it in 6 pitches and 3 abseils so we will talk about it as such. The Route is 137m long and is an absolute classic climb at E1 5b – to be honest – most of the route varies from VD-VS climbing with 2 moves of E1 and the two moves have some lovely tricks to make them easier than 99.99% of people make them so keep reading if you are interested! This all being said the route is a serious undertaking and if you can’t lead E1 comfortably then it would be worth looking at getting a guide to take you up the climb.
The climb itself is kinda tricky to get to as you need to take a ferry from Scrabster to Stomness on Orkney and then Stromness to Moaness on Hoy before a taxi or bike ride to Rackwick bay and then a 1.5 hour walk to the stack. As such this is really a minimum 2 day excursion for most parties. Some like to do it in 3 but 2 is doable. If you get the first ferry from Scrabster then you can get the next ferry across to Hoy before the taxi (arrange in advance they get busy) to Rackwick – you can then take the 1.5 hour walk across the path to the stack and climb it before sunset (in summer). This allows you the capacity to have a more chilled day the next day and travel back again. Or if the weather is terrible a more chilled day on day 1 with a very early climb on day 2 and travel back again. An alternative is to take the last ferry over the day before – stay in Stromness (maybe the hotel) and get the first ferry across the next day. When you are on Hoy, you can either aim to stay at Rackwick bothy (or camp in the grounds) where there is a public toilet, or alternatively stay in the hostel at rackwick or the Hoy outdoor centre hostel near Moaness (lots of options).
Pitch 1 and 2 of the climbing guide to the Old Man Of Hoy
Pitch 1 20m 4b of our climbing guide to the Old Man Of Hoy starts by traversing across the boulder field at the bottom of the stack (the remains of its second leg which collapsed in Victorian times). From the end of this is is worth building an anchor as the ground is quite unstable and if a belayer were to slip they would pull the leader off – 2 x n.6 cams come in very handy to do this. Work your way up the left side of the stack to a ledge around 30m up which is large and often has tat for an anchor in situ – this pitch follows lovely climbing using mainly mid sized cams to protect it.
The second pitch of climbing in this guide is really the first half of the second as traditionally the stack was climbed in 5 pitches but it is really worth doing it in 6! Downclimb 10m 5a following the normally in-situ rope that you can clip a quickdraw into for protection and align this to the right hand side of the blocks – go down further than you might think on brilliant jugs with lots of good cam placements and then traverse across using a good sloper and very good undercling to reach a small ledge below a large crack-line going through the overhang above. Build an anchor here – a n.3 cam, n.7 nut and n.8 nut come in very handy here though it can be done all on size 1-3 cams as well without issue. Use this small ledge and bring your seconds across to it – it gets more comfortable once the leader moves off on the next pitch.
The crux pitch (coffin) 3
From here – climb directly upwards 20m 5b through the first wee overhang steeping right to make it easier – there is an old inset block of wood you can thread from it’s original ascent in 1966 if you want to trust it… This pitch n.4, 5 and 6 cams come in handy – the more of the larger sizes you have the better and easier to protect the climb but do not take anything bigger than a n.6 it does not need it and you will only lose your cams to the rock gods!
Climb up the coffin chimney to the top of it – get a good cam in above you to protect your next moves and contrary to what everyone tells you do NOT climb directly up from here it makes it way harder and more awkward that it has to be! Step out left making an exposed move on brilliant hand holds and footholds (see the photo) to reach a great jug on the left hand side wall – utilise a slightly dodgy high left foot to crank up and reach yet another amazing jug and then step back in towards the crackline to continue it to the top of this pitch where inset tat normally threads two blocks. This way of climbing it is known to very few (now many once you read this guide) and makes the moves so much easier!
Pitches 4 & 5
Pitch 4 40m ungraded and pitch 5 20m 4b weave their way up the right hand side of the stacks now – step right off your anchor at the top of the crux onto much more dirty green and bird poop covered rock. Expect to run into many fulmars on the next two pitches of the climb – if you build a rapport with the birds and talk to them slowly so they don’t get as scared of a quick approach then they are way less likely to vomit on you! The vomit stinks, is impossible to wash out and is highly acidic so really bad for climbing gear and ropes! Climb up this wall taking the easiest line – and you will come across an anchor on the left around 20m up ignore this and keep going another 20m or so to the next one – this makes you life much easier for the next pitch!
This is currently a mess of tat and nonsense but is thankfully being cleaned up in September 2024 by a selection of kind individuals donating their time to sort out cleaning the whole stack and making it much safer for everyone (our director is included in this and has probably guided Hoy, Stoer and Buachaille more than any other instructor in the entire industry over the years so feels he needs to give back and protect the environment for others where he can).
Pitch 5 steps right and follows poorly protected but very easy climbing up to a grassy ledge and peg belay below the final summit pitch – it is worth nothing the pegs are really old and there is loads of great trad gear here in the form of n.5,6 cams and n.6 nuts so it is really worth building your own anchor as you just don’t know how good the pegs are inside the rock anymore…
The summit push of the Old Man of Hoy- climbing pitch 6
Pitch 6 20m 4c takes you up the corner (crack) which separates the left and right side of the stack – it is worth noting this crack only formed in 1992 so is still quite new – and airy – you can look through the whole of the stack and wonder when it will collapse… You top out on the left hand side of the stack which alas is not the actual summit – belay your climbers up and then stay tied to the anchor give yourself some slack and hop across to the right hand side where a wee cairn awaits you on the true summit!
From here once you have admired the views for long enough begin your abseil back down the stack – it is worth going down to the grassy ledge 25m down – bringing the others down and then containing in the same abseil back down to the top of pitch 4 anchor. Pull your ropes, repeat the process down to the top of the crux pitch anchor, pull them again and then proceed to the floor from here in a beautiful free hanging abseil all the way down. it is worth noting you NEED 60m ropes at least for this – 50m ropes mean you have to do a horrible traverse back to the top of pitch one mid abseil and go down again not worth it!!!
To conclude our climbing guide to the Old Man of hoy
Concluding our climbing guide to the Old Man of Hoy – we hope this has been useful for people and given you at least a few tips and tricks to help you get to the top of one of the greatest climbs the UK has in it’s arsenal before it falls down (nobody knows when but its predicted to be unable to last much longer in it’s current form at least). We recommend climbing the Old Man of Hoy using this guide and doing it in 6 pitches – take a n.6-8 nut and predominantly mid to larger cams – you do not need 00 or 0 at all drop them! If in doubt as to your ability to climb this route then get a guide it is tricky climbing and it’s sandstone on a stack so you probably don’t want to fall on lead – the gear is good but…