Youngest ever lead climb of The Old Man of Stoer by young Aden (11yo)!
Continuing on from his epic ascent of Am Buachaille the day before breaking the record for the youngest ever lead climb on the sea stack, Aden ascended on lead the Old Man of Stoer the next day – perhaps he should be referred to as the young man of Stoer… a naturally very tired young man from the day before woke up and somehow found the energy to cook his parents a full Scottish breakfast… everyone had agreed that a lie in would be a good idea for rest and recovery allowing for an afternoon ascent of the Old Man of Stoer and a sunset finish/dark walk out. This meant Jim met the guys later in the morning before heading to the Stoer Lighthouse car park to organise the equipment and ensure we all had everything we needed.
Psyched and ready for the journey they al set off with Aden leading the charge and Jim keeping up – Alan and Lynn were a little behind due to poor Alan’s blisters from the day before which really were truly hideous – how he committed to doing this was absolutely incredible! Shortly we reached the viewpoint for the stack and Aden admired it from afar saying it was not too far now and seemed psyched for the climb ahead! They all reached the top of the stack around 15:00 and then scrambled down the steep path to the base where we ran into two lovely climbers from the day before traded details to share photographs of each other that we had and they wished Aden good luck commenting on their amusement of him leading Am Buachaille!
The young man, Alan and Jim all crossed over the sea to reach the sea stack of the Old Man of Stoer. Jim rigged the Tyrolean earlier in the season to allow for easier crossings for everyone kindly and generously donating his gear and ropes to the cause! It was nice to see it was still there and undamaged. The gents we ran into gave us the wonderful beta that the first traverse pitch was sopping wet (as it always is and was expected) so we opted for the walk around the back of the stack on the seaward side to start lower down than usual but avoid the wet traverse pitch.
The climb
Jim led up half the stack and dropped his rope back down to jug alongside the young man all the way up the first and second pitches of Stoer. Aden cruised the first pitch up to the anchor and then we had some fun with building an anchor using placements that were just marginally too big due to having used the right pieces of gear to protected the lead itself… He brought his dad up on belay and then set off for the harder next pitch which has great handholds, is slightly overhanging but has terrible feet and a small roof or two you have to pull through. He made it look easy committing to the moves above his gear without fear or hesitation trusting his hands and dodgy footholds to get to the belay having pulled around the cave as opposed to going through it. From here he belayed his dad up who fell on route but Aden held his fall and managed the ropes really well.
Alas Alan fell having just taken a cam out so Jim had to rap back down and retrieve the cam and return to the guys in the small cave belay. From here Jim let to the top and then again rapped back down to be alongside and behind Aden as me opted to link the next two pitches together to save time and save what was left of his dad’s energy! Again causing along the traverse and up the overhanging chimney pitch he made his way to the top. From here it got cold very suddenly and the wind picked up so Jim took his AMI gillet off and gave it to the young man to shelter in at the summit of the Old Man of Stoer while Jim belayed his dad on the final bit. They all got to the top and then abseiled back down to take the tyrollean back across and scramble up the steep bank. Once at the top Aden gave his mum a massive hug and they admired the view for a moment before walking back out to get back to the car park around 21:00. They returned for pizza where Aden initially was wide awake and psyched playing cards, setting the fire and improving a fix for the oven door with a chair propping up the handle… But he crashed quickly and fell asleep on the sofa snoring his way into sweet dreams.
An amazing achievement by anyone, but by an 11 year old amazing doesn’t sum it up truly outstanding and unbelievable is perhaps more accurate! Look out Hoy – he has his sights set on you next… Oh and everything he is doing on the stacks he is doing for charity for guide dogs as he has wanted to climb them since 4 having been inspired by the first blind ascent by Jesse! Not only is he the youngest lead climber for Am Buachaille and the Old Man of Stoer, but he is hoping to be for the Old Man of Hoy as well.