Welcome to the glory board for those who have bagged the Old Man.
If your name isn’t here and it should be please contact us here.
We registered everyone who responded to our call for Old Man climbers. We hold the 2017-2023 summit book in our collection at Hoy Heritage Centre. Previous books have been reported lost from the summit.
Some entries are taken from the notebooks from the summit. We have done our best to transcribe the names but if we have misspelt your name please let us know.
Thank you to Colin Jackson who photographed pages of the 2026 summit books for us up until August.
Thank you to Karl Reid who has catalogued all the entries.
| Year | Date | Name | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 22-Aug | Elise Coward and Colin Jackson | A dehydrated ascent of the old man because we left a water bottle in the Ferry Inn! Much better climbing than people say, rain held off till the last pitch. A great adventure! | |
| 2026 | 10-Aug | Bradley Scott and Sean Scott, Iain Ballantyne | Dad going back up after his first ascent when he was 17! The bloody fulmars got me right in the head, face and whole body! I thought we were friends! Iain Ballantyne(here again, magic!) | |
| 2026 | 09-Aug | Jeff Kolehmainen and Adam Shwartz – Lowe | Minnesota | Life list climb with life long friend. Amazing route in an amazing place. What a unique setting and climb. I’m so happy to get to do this with my bro. |
| 2026 | 06-Aug | Javier and Matt | text not clear | |
| 2026 | 29-Jul | Brigid and Peter MacKenzie, Iain Ballantyne | Made it up the east face route with Iain our guide. Brilliant climb, a few falls off the crux. Unfortunately didn’t manage to avoid the vomit! “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe” – Proverbs 18:10 – A Remarkable trip, and we are deeply thankful to those who went before. | |
| 2026 | 23-Jul | Michael and Jess | Somehow the stack blocked all the wind – it’s freezing up here! East face route. | |
| 2026 | 10-Jul | Gregor Patka and Tukasz Zukowski, Gregon Dudek and Kacper Nowdsadzki? | Rainy, but lot of fun. Can you imagine better bachelor’s party? | |
| 2026 | 01-Jul | Mia and Colin | First stack of the summer. In memory of Eve McCarthy and all those who rest over the edge of the world. | |
| 2026 | 26-Jun | Kilian and Bert | Hong Kong (Bert) | Adventure climbing at it’s best, great day with this international crew! Merci Orkney – Killian. Bert – Magical day. 20mm rain previous night but the route turn out to be mostly dry. Climbing is ok but great setting. Cheers to Kilian and to Gillian being amazing and supportive. Also cheers to Hong Kong. |
| 2026 | 26-Jun | Onur Yurtbazi and Mistral Contrastin | Turkey | We are out of the world cup but probably the first turkish ascent of the old man. |
| 2026 | 23-Jun | Daube au Harald and Fitinger von Claudia Schautz | Austria | Perfect day, only the two of us, sunny day, calm birds. 1000 – million – $ – day! |
| 2026 | 20-Jun | Mike and Brian | A full fulmar experience. | |
| 2026 | 12-Jun | Vinter Brothers – George and Henry | Epic! Racing so time to go!… | |
| 2026 | 07-Jun | Dan and Ollie Smaje (27 and 29 4/5) | F*** CLIMBERS, coming round my house without asking! What’s happened to manners in this country?? (Did also get vomited on by the fulmers though). | |
| 2026 | 26-May | Simon and Ben | Carlisle | Climbed in 6 pitches topping out to glorious May sunshine as the heat wave seems to finally be making it up here. F*** FULMARS, cracking climb though – Ben! Good man |
| 2026 | 22-May | Andy and Chris | “A few dollars more”. | |
| 2026 | 20-May | Paul, Niff, Ash and DSM | Got lucky with the weather, mud and slime notwithstanding. | |
| 2026 | 20-May | Tim | Rope Solo, muddy slimy. Quality adventure steeped in history. Beautiful sunset! Looking forward to fire in the bothy. Xx | |
| 2026 | 18-May | James ‘Pun Pun’ Punnett and Edward ‘Tedster’ Hukins, Natty Natty Bon Face and Arron | Chapel (Arron) | Thankfully dodged all vomit attacks and made it to the top. A joy and a pleasure on great highland adventure 6. Stole each others pitches, turned out to be sound! What a bloody good day on the cliff?! Best part – saw a seal on the top out. |
| 2026 | 18-May | Steve and Joe | 4th team of the day, followed #teambarefootcharles up the old man. Good day, breezy but dry. | |
| 2026 | 16-May | Alex and Martin | Just wonderful!! (Martin) Big Thanks (Alex) | |
| 2026 | 06-May | Alex Whitmore and Jasper McGarry, Ben Rogers and Ruth Farrow | Climbing as 2 pairs together on a beautiful sunny but chilly day. | |
| 2026 | 05-May | Twid Turner, Tom Paul Harder Ter?, and Steve Pritchard | Fine crispy day, blue skies. 42 years since my first time here. Glad it’s still standing. | |
| 2026 | 29-Apr | Kiane Scott and Liam Gilchrist | BC, Canada | Beautiful sunny day with blue skies, did not get puked on by fulmars (yet) but did get pooped on (haha). |
| 2026 | 21-Apr | Magnus Smith and Sam Percival | Stromness | My first ever rock climb and filmed for German TV show “mareTV”. Out in December. (MG) Another great day on an adventureous route. (SP) |
| 2026 | 15-Jun | Wes Hunter, Jamie, and Tom | Perfect weather and two puffins waiting for us on the top! Survived the coffin pitch and the rest was dreamy! Fantastic day! A real pleasure to be up here on a fine day in great company. Incredible climb. What a view from the top. Thank you Orkney. | |
| 2026 | Bozlyn and Max Keavney | Blimey jimey what a good day! Good thing we got the 07:30 ferry ay! And thanks to Mr Clark for his loyal van services. Fantastic climb! Only a small melt down on pitch 2. Couldn’t have done it without Bare foot Tym! What a day | ||
| 2026 | Dan Holmes and Jasmine Thompson | Climbed at sunset. Finished in the dark. What a day! | ||
| 2023 | Aug | Gavin Woodbridge and Freya Hunter | North Ronaldsay, Orkney | I grew up in Orkney on the island of North Ronaldsay, and according to folk here, am certainly the first person from the island to have climbed it. I don’t really know of any other folk in Orkney who have scaled it but I’m sure they are about! |
| 2023 | Jul | Marek Nikolic, Cody Waishaar, and Rick | Czech Republic | We took up the officially youngest climber – Cody Waishaar 7 years old, and did it for pancreatic cancer- with a friend Rick who suffers from just that. I led up the whole thing as first climber. I am Czech. |
| 2023 | 17-Jun | Will Gleeson and Hester Stembridge | ||
| 2023 | 11-May | Dale Hancock | Manchester | Epic! |
| 2023 | 19-Apr | Duncan and James M | Crushing all the way to the top. | |
| 2023 | 19-Apr | Lianne, Louis, and Tim | Followed Duncan and James. | |
| 2023 | 28-Feb | Wilder and Shane | New York | First summit of 2023! What an honour. Spread some ashes. Climbed a rock. Only argued once! These birds are kinda crazy. Wilder take it away! Great spring break. Flew from New York yesterday. 24 hours later I’m on the top, can’t wait to eat. Love you Mom and Dad – Wilder |
| 2022 | 28-Aug | Mike Pescod and Calum Maclean | How did my life come to this | |
| 2022 | 15?-May | Lucy Vincent, Steve Shillito, and Georgio Kostindavov? | Polaris mountaineering club | Beautiful sunny day, windy on top – come join our club. https://polarismc.org.uk |
| 2022 | Aug | David Sanderson, Adam Hocking, Graham Ansell, Alastair Bowes, Oscar Chatterly, and Peter Walmesly | ||
| 2022 | 03-Sep | Sylvain, Benoit, and Daniel du Lac | comment in French | |
| 2022 | 25-Oct | Henry Wygas and Luke Wygas | Thanks Ed for getting us to the top. | |
| 2022 | 08-Oct | Will Wycherley and Henry Cole | Second that comment a pint is calling | |
| 2022 | 24-Sep | Brad Cutmore and Christopher Parperis | Unbelievable day out. Can’t wait to get to the pub! | |
| 2022 | 11-Sep | Harrison Durban and Amy Goncalves | Nice end to a week climbing Scottish sea stacks! | |
| 2022 | 10-Sep | Donald King, Hannah Holmes, and Katya Thomson | Beautiful sunny September day. But where are the orcas… | |
| 2022 | 10-Sep | Will and Jamie | It actually happened! What a place. | |
| 2022 | 27-Aug | Georgie Chambers, Sam Percival (again!), and Andy Combes | Carrbridge, Skye, and Bournemouth | |
| 2022 | 25-Aug | Mike ‘Twid’ Turner, Giles Cooper, Marty Wall | UK | Fantastic weather, same bastard fulmer got me again! |
| 2022 | 25-Aug | Mark Bridges, Stuart Pryce, and Sam Percival | Last stack of the big three, climbed with speed and style. | |
| 2022 | 22-Aug | Mike ‘Twid’ Turner, Rob Whardle, and Colin Clayton (his dad) | UK | Great day out got puked on twice |
| 2022 | 17-Aug | Lucas and Tia | France and Scotland | We made it! Smiling through the fulmer vomit. PS I love Tia, perfect partner |
| 2022 | 21-Jun | Ros, Simon, and Paul | What a way to spend mid-summer’s day, with two amazing guys. | |
| 2022 | 16-Jun | Graham (Chalky) | What a day, what a location, what a climb, superb. | |
| 2022 | 05-Jun | Calum Mack | Brilliant bothy night and amazing climbing. The most perfect week of weather and fun ever. | |
| 2022 | 21-May | Hobo Greg | Joshua Tree, California | Best climb of my life, the most gorgeous place on earth |
| 2022 | 15-May | Paul Brighthall, James Summerfield, and Jim Broomhead | Finally got here, 2 years in the making. Thank you covid! | |
| 2022 | 19-Apr | Sam Wragg | ||
| 2022 | 19-Apr | Stephen Anderson | This is the closest I can get to you for now missing you every day xx xx xx The Lady T | |
| 2022 | Jethro | Joshua Tree, California | Is there any simple climbing in Scotland? I think I’ll just go back to the gym | |
| 2022 | Sabra | Glorious summit. Incredible route. Much fulmer puke. Grateful to the weather gods for allowing us the chance. As always, to absent friends we carry with us. Slainte! | ||
| 2022 | Ruaridh Summers | A stunning day to meet the old man. Thanks Liz for the platty jub’s? holiday. Cracking | ||
| 2022 | Clemmie Thompson | Guernsey, Channel Islands | Epic sea stack route! Had a close encounter with some fulmer sick so got the full experience! Grateful for the weather, Cal & Ru | |
| 2022 | Doug Hart | |||
| 2022 | Mark Chambers | Great day with top team of guys. Could you not ask for Mark. | ||
| 2022 | Mike P | Sunny! | ||
| 2022 | Rickic | Slade, Wexford | Amazing climb and what a topout? | |
| 2021 | 16-Jun | Robb and Penny | Flying visit to climb one of Scotland’s most notorious climbs! Wish I had more size ‘5’ cans on me. Pitch 2 was interesting. ‘Old Man of Stoer’ next. Happy climbing, stay safe. | |
| 2021 | 16-Sep | Sal and Mark W | The sun is shining. Most beautiful place ever. | |
| 2021 | 14-Sep | David Hempleman-Adams (wikipedia.org/wiki/david_hempleman-adams), Simon Nadin, and Paul Tattersall | ||
| 2021 | 12-Sep | Twid, Shane, Martin, and Jonjo | Couldn’t resist it! | |
| 2021 | 05-Sep | Twid, Cliff, and Rebecca | Never coming back! | |
| 2021 | 03-Sep | Rob and Jack (Stanners and Quarryboy) | On the eve of our ‘Big John’ attempt. Magic. | |
| 2021 | 31-Aug | Ian, Keith, John, and Glenn | Fat boys arrived. All good. Nice day out. Fantastic sunny day. Peace & Love | |
| 2021 | 30-Aug | Dave Hinton, Mike, and Helen | Amazing route led by the pro Dave Hinton. Mike + Helens first sea stack! Mike! Loved it! First of many to come! Helen | |
| 2021 | 30-Jul | Gaz Davies, Adam Harmer, Mark Walker (7), and Emily Walker (13) | Arete Outdoor Centre | Ascended in the clad + wet ming!? Fun had by all. |
| 2021 | 11-Jul | Robin Gledhill and Rob Mills | Topped out at 4:30pm. Fulmer vomit free (so far). Now to get down in time to watch the Euro finals! | |
| 2021 | 06-Jul | Linsay Macleod and Davie Scott | Topped out at 18:00hrs, now to get down for chicken wings and moonshine! Hope you enjoyed it as much as wed did. ALBA. Gu Brath | |
| 2021 | 26-Jun | ? | E1. Hello hen .Brilliant. | |
| 2021 | 26-Jun | Baz Whale | Mega route! Now for the down. Superb views. Great opportunity to really live. | |
| 2021 | 18-Jun | Cherry Torrance (61 years old), Rich Parker (our guide), and Lisa Higginson | ||
| 2021 | 15-Jun | Aaron Tregellis and Tom Greenham, Tim Elson and Stuart McLeod | Climbed the original route. | |
| 2021 | 02-Jun | Tom Priestley, Geoff Der, and Mark Vandome | Very windy! | |
| 2021 | 02-Jun | John Young | Cold fingers! | |
| 2021 | 27-May | Pretty Deece, Neil, and Sean | What a route, what a place. There once was a boy, who wanted to climb the Old Man of Hoy! “So we finally got the ferry?, and found it a bit scary, but man o’ man it was a joy!” – Sean | |
| 2021 | Jake and Kitty | Jake + Kitty woz here 2k21! | ||
| 2021 | Richard Driss | Blue Peter presenter number 38 was here somehow. | ||
| 2020 | 16-Aug | Amanda Vestergaard, Alasdair Lowe, and Conor Nally | Perfect spot for a chochy orange. | |
| 2020 | 07/2020 | Kenton Cool and Rob Lucas | 1st ascent of the year. | |
| 2020 | 24-Sep | Adam Cullen and Jenny Blackburn | 5 star terrain indeed… | |
| 2020 | 17-Sep | Oliver Skeoch and George Gibson | An amazing day, felt it could either way until after pitch 2. V happy to be here! Phenomenal climbing, great conditions & stunning views. Feel so blessed to be sitting up here. Until next time, Old Man! | |
| 2020 | 31-Aug | Alex, Rusty, Dasha, and (K.P. not present) | Great route but a bit easy for E1… | |
| 2020 | 21-Aug | Alastair Bowes, Graham Ansell, Adam Hocking, Dave “Jou” Sanderson, Oscar Chatterley, and Peter Walmsley | Cockermouth | All of Cockermouth climbing club. Amazing climbing. Terrifying birds. Now off to the pub. |
| 2020 | 20-Aug | Kenton Cool, Stu McAlesse, and Richard Walker | Great times on the Old Man!! | |
| 2020 | 14-Aug | Lia Guest and Adam Russell | Last of the big 3 (from book). We managed to climb all three biggest seas stacks in Scotland over two years – Old Man of Hoy, Am Buachaille, Old man of Storr. Also the Souter as an additional. That was a fun few years! (from email). | |
| 2020 | 10-Aug | Emma Inge and Rowland Penty | A-Hoy there! | |
| 2020 | 06-Aug | Simon Dale and Claire Mc Elwain | Amazing! | |
| 2019 | 29-Jul | Christie Macleod and Robert MacKenzie | 1st multi-pitch route. Such a cool route. Much love Robert MacKenzie x | |
| 2019 | 20-Aug | Mike Pescod and John Gilbert | A bit damp but a great picnic spot. | |
| 2019 | 14-Jul | Matt Barratt, Josh Barratt, Doug Sulton, Danny Mickers, and Mark Freestone | Great times in the Orcadian wonderland! | |
| 2019 | 12-Aug | Corinne Bunton | Appleby | A good day to be on this planet! Sun, seals and a fine stack! |
| 2019 | 10-Sep | Dan Mck? and Dave Ashby | To celebrate 70th birthday. Harrison’s on steroids! | |
| 2019 | 09-Sep | Neil Buz Busby, Glenn Gordon, and Ray Duffy | Night ascent – oldmansaysaye | |
| 2019 | 08-Sep | Neil Buz Busby, Glenn Gordon, and Kiefor Duffy | ||
| 2019 | 13-Aug | Fiona | A Hoy there! Best sea stack I’ve ever climbed! The adventures of John and Jack.(continued on next page) | |
| 2019 | 13-Aug | Dan Morgan, Jon Ritson, and Ian Johnston | ||
| 2019 | 13-Aug | Jo & M Graham | ||
| 2019 | 18-Jul | Goa Gilb and Maxi Mannert | Saxon, Switzerland | Greetings from Saxon Switzerland. We love sandstone and traditional climbing! |
| 2019 | 10-Jun | Dan Porritt, Mark Philipson, and Matt Payne | Waited a long time for this, well worth the effort. Amazing climb + trip. I’m Dan, tagged along last minute so didn’t wait long but well worth it also. Peace + love | |
| 2019 | 24-Apr | Gordon Davidson (10/02/79), and Andy Hewison (18/06/70) | A crazy experience. Absolutely mind blowing. A huge thank you to Mike Pescod of Abacus who towed us up. | |
| 2019 | 18-Apr | Graham Stein, Jamie Thin, Mick James, and Johnny Dyble | MC SMC, Edinburgh | Topping out with rain! Mist is down. Was nice and dry to start! Fulmars were friendly. |
| 2019 | 21-Jun | Gordon and Alex | Summer solstice (text not clear) climb. Absolutely epic. | |
| 2019 | John and Jack went up the stack to fetch a pale of fulmer spew. But all they got was a bucket of sh** and John lost his shoe. | |||
| 2018 | Jul | Max McQuillan and David Chase | F*** fabulous. What a treat to be alive. | |
| 2018 | 24-Sep | Piers Dance, and Rowan Bonney | Well worth it! Shame we couldn’t get the other two classic sea stacks. Thank you Hoy! | |
| 2018 | 03-Sep | Andy Barker, Dan Geraghty, and Chris Moran | A fantastic climb and amazing adventure. (dedicated to the newest adventurer – Elliot Moran x) | |
| 2018 | 02-Sep | Alex Morin, and Adam Cozes | Canada | Canada says hello Hoy. |
| 2018 | 29-Aug | Ralf Motolin?, and Auke Kuinst | Lok, Berlin ’53 | We came the long way from Berlin and Hoy is the 3rd seastack. Amazing! |
| 2018 | 27-Aug | A Hale, and P Colledge | Bournemouth and Kent | Amazing! |
| 2018 | 26-Aug | Walter Taylor, Jed Reiley, and Brian Duthy | Great climb! | |
| 2018 | 26-Aug | Walter Taylor, Brian Duthie, and Ged Reilly | ||
| 2018 | 23-Aug | Saw what may be the only weather window? in our 4 days here and took ? – so glad we did. Topped out at 5:15. Glorious sunshine & flawless(ish) rock. Well done to Ollie & Will! www.headonout.co.uk | ||
| 2018 | 23-Aug | Will von Meger | Australia | Brilliant climb. A couple of absolute gents – Pleasure to be here, & very lucky. The fulmers!!! |
| 2018 | 23-Aug | Ollie Atkins | Loved every min!! Thanks to Head on out. | |
| 2018 | 22-Aug | Flavie Don L, and Jenny De Hoxar | Climbing can’t get any better than this! Escaped clag from Pembroke (yes, Pembroke!) any less than 48h ago. It’s sunny here! | |
| 2018 | 21-Aug | Matt | Jersey | Been waiting since I was 16 to get up here. It didn’t disappoint! |
| 2018 | 21-Aug | Kev Davey | Old Man of Stoer, Am Buachaille?, and now Old Man of Hoy (my second ascent of this stack!), all in 4 days. Awesome type 2 fun! | |
| 2018 | 19-Aug | Elaine Reed | Been waiting for this since Christmas and it finally happened. Getting up it was cool and all, but I think the biggest achievement was not getting vomited on by a fulmer… Here’s to the next adventure! | |
| 2018 | 30-Jul | Kirsty McGhie – Fraser, and Ben Hirst | Climbed in the evening sun, beautiful xxx | |
| 2018 | 29-Jul | Tim Hamlet, Rick, Rob, Alan, and Richard | Very winy day, lots of fun. | |
| 2018 | 25-Jul | Jack Brooks and Walter Taylor | Absolutely incredible! Fantastic to climb this with Walter Taylor who’s waited over 40 years. Well worth the long drive. | |
| 2018 | 25-Jul | Walter Taylor and Jack Brooks | ||
| 2018 | 05-Jul | Geoff Mann and Ian Lonsdale | Bolton Lancashire | Two old pensioners finally got it done. 2nd pitch bit of a thrutch. |
| 2018 | 09-Jun | Alex Shaw | Alex was ere. Wet crux was a spicy second (text not clear) | |
| 2018 | 08-Jun | Edward Mills | Hello I’m Edward. My age is 8. I climbed this for my Mum. | |
| 2018 | 08-Jun | Ben West and Cailean Harker | What a day. Climbed with Edward Wills age 8 to raise money for Climber against Cancer. Currently raise £15k at the base so hopefully a bit more in the days to come. Fantastic top pitch. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-44423914 | |
| 2018 | 08-Jun | Matt & Jo | #MATTANDJOESVIKINGADVENTURE Cracking climb, worth it for the top pitch. Climbed for Matt’s birthday treat. #TX CLIMBING #SENDIT TX @official_psychi | |
| 2018 | 22-May | Mike Pescod, Elle Jeffs, David Lozman, Donald King, Alison McLure, and Cathy Mayne | Lifetime ‘bucket list’ ambition fulfilled for 4 out of 6. The other 2 did okay too – nice one Mike + Don for such outstanding guiding! | |
| 2018 | 10-Jul | Sketchy AC Pearson | I was promised a cafe, but all I got was this lousy book. Not a bad view 10/10 would climb again. Needs more ? Sandbags & sunsets tour | |
| 2018 | Rob McCurd | 8 months of anticipation and it all boiled down to this. Perfect conditions for a top class time on a quality route? Now it’s just a case of getting down… | ||
| 2017 | 06/2017 | Jack Blom, Sam Shiliday, Fergus Eakin, and Harry Carstairs | ||
| 2017 | 13-Aug | Brian, Luke, and Ryan | Sheffield and Manchester | Post rain ascent! 4.5 hours + 3 fulmars = a pleasurable afternoon with the boys. |
| 2017 | 16-Aug | Simon Pierre Bouchard, Michelle Lepage, and baby in belly | Montreal, QC, Canada | For “a few dollars more”, I could’ve paid for a holiday on the beach, but nothing could ever beat the sensation of accomplishment. |
| 2017 | 16-Aug | James Seaman | To be up here is a dream come true and a experience I’ll never forget. Forever in the debt of the team. | |
| 2017 | 16-Aug | Davy Taylor | Lifelong ambition achieved. Unforgettable experience. In memory of my “Old Man”! Thanks to Glenn Gordon & James Seaman. | |
| 2017 | 16-Aug | Glenn Gordon | Guiding in the company of two fine fellas. Always an adventure! | |
| 2017 | 09-Aug | Pete Johnson and Paul Drew? | A long way to go for a picnic! | |
| 2017 | 06-Aug | Donald King | Orcas!!! | |
| 2017 | 06-Aug | Kelvin Joy | Margate | Wow! |
| 2017 | 06-Aug | Tomas Stephenson (12 years old!) | Cambridge | |
| 2017 | 02-Aug | Lisa and Bradd | Australia | Woop Woop! |
| 2017 | 20-Jul | Chris Dawes and Graham Hoey | Thanks Graham – What a chemistry lesson that was! Cheers Chris – A memorable flight? Up in a cessna!! | |
| 2017 | 18-Jul | Duncan Helm and Jim Stalker | Perth and Spean Bridge | Lovely sunny day – magic! |
| 2017 | 14-Jul | Mark Webb, Gareth Hayfield and Lorraine Mealings | Bournemouth | 24hrs from Bournemouth Epic day, stunning (from book). We summited 9pm 25 hrs after leaving Bournemouth (from email). |
| 2017 | 09-Jul | Igor (?) and Joao Mendes | Brazil | Summit! Pleasure be here! Party from Brazil! Sunny Day! |
| 2017 | 09-Jul | T shaw and C Runnalls | Sick’ #LAIRIG | |
| 2017 | 08-Jul | Alexander Schulz, Dan Hunt, Thomas Foote, and Nadeem Al-Kafasi | First slackline to the summit! Great times in a beautiful place. Filled with awe & respect. Highline ^180m (diagram) | |
| 2017 | 07-Jul | Alexander Schulz, Dan Hunt, Thomas Foote, and Nadeem Al-Kafasi | ||
| 2017 | 04-Jul | Kev and Steve Woods, Dave MacMorris | Pontypridd | Brilliant – Steve: Can’t believe I’m here, insane, amazing, hard, rewarding day. Thanks Old Man of Hoy. Until next time. |
| 2017 | 04-Jul | Ralf Petzka, Ullrich Meyer, and Ulrike Krauze and Carl? | Original route | |
| 2017 | 27-Jun | Andrew Schofield | Merrington, Shropshire | A fine climb! |
| 2017 | 26-Jun | Tommy | If you’re reading this, well done, you made it up & the stack is still standing! Well done to Anna D for leading it all. I think this might be my new favourite place. Puffins, razorbills, sunshine and 3 old men… Hopefully we’ll only be leaving one behind! Anna. Can’t believe I made it. Nearly came off on the crux. Thanks to Anna and Simon for organising. | |
| 2017 | 20-Jun | Colin McGowan | Telford | Something smart |
| 2017 | 20-Jun | Ingrid Hulakova | Slovakia | Thanks for amazing climbing trip on the Old Man of Hoy. Especially thank you all my climbing friends and support. Thanks |
| 2017 | 20-Jun | Olly Stanley | Bristol | Makes you think, why can’t people get along. Miss you Lauren/family & friends – Good luck readers |
| 2017 | 20-Jun | Ingrid and Johannes | It was everything I had hoped and feared for | |
| 2017 | 20-Jun | Dave Greenald | Played accordian on summit. Brilliant! | |
| 2017 | 20-Jun | Karl Smith | Newport, Shropshire | Half a dozen times down the descent path, and it hasn’t improved! Worth it to hear Dave Greenald play the accordion on the summit, and to top out to a glorious sunny evening. |
| 2017 | Dec Morgan | Telford | Nice views and accordion music! | |
| 2017 | John and Vicky | Rock antics | ||
| 2017 | Henry Jenkins and Ian (the ?) | Love | ||
| 2017 | Chris Morris | Shrewsbury | ||
| 2017 | James Thompson | Shropshire | ||
| 2017 | Pat Littlejohn | North Wales | ||
| 2017 | Edward Sampson (nephew) and George Sampson (uncle) | A really special day out with my lovely uncle!! | ||
| 2017 | Heather and Ali | Sunset and a peedie dram of whisky – cannot get better can this! What an amazing place. | ||
| 2017 | Rob? And Sam Wainwright | The best! No other words needed. There’s a storm a brewin. | ||
| 2017 | Natasha B | Anglesey | It’s raining!!! We Knew the weather would come in but started anyway. Rained on last pitch but Marv? pulled onto the top. Amazing climbing/stone. Love this place. Stinking of gull puke. | |
| 2017 | Mark D | Sheffield | Amazing adventure with Marv + Nat. Really pleased to be here. Marv led last pitch in ? rain: actual legend. So stoked but a bit scared of the abseil!! | |
| 2017 | Andy ‘Marv’ Harvey | Hello!! I’m very very high up + very very happy and I’m afraid I was rather afraid!! Well done all! | ||
| 2017 | Charlie Stephenson | What a climb, what a day! Great effort by Tom particularly on 2nd pitch. | ||
| 2017 | Mike Peswol? (44 years old) | |||
| 2017 | 26-Sep | John Mountain, David Helliwell (Snod) and Terry King (Rance) | Parnassus MC | We’d watched the TV programme and said ‘we can do that’; and we did! The first free ascent. I was 21, Terry was a young teenager. Youngest to climb it I think. The hand drawn map from the first ascent was given to the lady whose B&B we all stayed in. I’ve climbed the Old Man twice since our first ascent in September 1967. In 2017 to celebrate 50th anniversary and one with my 2 brothers – in-law and members of the Northumberland MC. Happy memories. Still climbing. Still with the same friends. |
| 2016 | 13-Sep | Richard Ive and Rob Moorcroft | ||
| 2015 | 25-Jun | Richard Gasson | ||
| 2014 | Jul | Espen Kringlen, Boris John de Klein, and Emmi Ikonen | Oslo, Norway | We climbed the original/normal route. Great trip, where we sailed from Oslo, Norway to visit the Old Man and the Highland Park distillery. |
| 2014 | Jul | Scott Garcia & Edward Nind | We climbed the Ordinary route with the Space station finish in July 2017. Blowing an absolute gale but we didn’t feel it until the top. A magic memory. | |
| 2014 | 18-Sep | Gaz, Nic, Bill, Miquel, Anna | Signed by Sam Wragg 19th April 2022 because they forgot the pen | |
| 2014 | Chris Bonnington | To mark his 80th birthday | ||
| 2013 | 19-May | Nic Cosmos and Brian Mead | Tunbridge Wells Mountaineering Club (Brian Mead) | |
| 2010 | 24-Aug | Arran Holdsworth, Chris Wood, and Jo Henderson | ||
| 2009 | 27-Jun | Pete Mayhew, Paul Mayhew, and Dave Eadie | East face route for my 50th birthday. Glorious weather and brill party afterwards by the Rackwick bothy. Lots of local folk partying there as well. Made it a really memorable trip. | |
| 2008 | 17-Aug | Andy Buckley, Graham Dolman, and Charles Moreton | https://thecccc.org.uk/2008/08/old-men-on-the-old-man-of-hoy/ | |
| 2008 | 01-Aug | Sarah Cullen | Brilliant! | |
| 2008 | 26-Jun | Richard Gasson | ||
| 2006 | 28-Jul | John Mountain, Ian Murray, Bob Smith, Alec Burns, John Earl and Tom Smith | ||
| 2005 | 2005? | Phil Clinch and Ian Mitchell, Geoff Reed and Keith Clements | We climbed the East Face route on the Old Man of Hoy 9 years after the first ascent on 17th August 1996. As there were no inhabitants on the island of Hoy then, we climbed it as two pairs on the basis that if one got in trouble, the other could help. The weather was stunning as it was the famous long hot summer of 1976. Our abiding memory was the dense clouds of midges which made life very uncomfortable. Phil Clinch was the only one to experience a fulmar vomiting on him! The climb was great and, as experienced sandstone climbers, the rock was very familiar to us. We got a fisherman to take us across Hoy from Orkney mainland and collect us two days later. A great adventure for all of us! | |
| 2004 | 31-Jul | Cal MacAninch, Shaun MacLean, and Mark MacPherson | ||
| 2001 | May | Nick Teesdale and Andy Elliot | Climbed by the original route. Andy constructed a remote controlled camera located on the cliff top to record our ascent, but we had to butcher the remote before pitch 2 to salvage batteries for a walkie talkie so the silent witness stayed silent! Great weather, empty bothy, epic climb, puffin for company at the top, and a refreshingly cold swim afterards. The Pinnacle of our sea stack adventures. | |
| 2000 | 20-May | Bob Kerr, Mick Tighe, and Bruce Maltman | I climbed the Old Man of Hoy on an Assynt Mountain Rescue Team training exercise. The Scrabster to Stromness ferry sailed past when we were on the summit and we waved at it. I recorded my ascent here: http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/mountaindetails.php?qu=S&rf=4927 | |
| 1999 | Sep | Tim Catterall and Stephen Porteous | Newcastle | Rained all the way up from Newcastle. Was wet as we climbed, sun came out as we got to the summit. |
| 1999 | 15-Jul | Richard Gasson | ||
| 1998 | Sep | Colin Harden and Brian Thornhill | Sheffield (Colin Harden) | |
| 1998 | Jul | Stewart McAslan, Alex Tysen, Scott Stewart, Andrew Norton, Fraser Wade, and Iain Carnduff. | Glasgow Academy Climbing Club | This group from Glasgow Academy Climbing Club also climbed The Old Man of Stoer in May 1988 as a training expedition to prepare for Hoy. |
| 1998 | 28-May | Richard Gasson | ||
| 1998 | Bob Dalgleish, Martin Barrett, Rosy Wright, Nick Buckley, Bill Wright, Pete Dawson, Andy McLean, Andy MacGregor, and Jane Sindell | All but Andy McLean reached the summit. Jane Sindell, who took the photo, also reached the summit. | ||
| 1996 | 09/1996 | Lee Gosling and John Peak | Climbed the Old Man of Hoy by the East Face (Original) Route. Climbing it the day afterwards was well known Lakes climber Paul Ross. | |
| 1996 | 05/1996 | Ivan Confield, Mick Tighe, Terry Confield, and Ian Sutherland | Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team | |
| 1996 | 14-Jun | Richard Gasson | ||
| 1996 | 18-Jun | Mathew Rea and James Underhill | ||
| 1995 | Aug | Jonathan Ball, John Preston, Thomas Bell-Hughes, and Michael Gray | We climbed as 2 pairs. We did the traditional route. | |
| 1994 | 30-Jun | Richard Gasson | ||
| 1993 | Aug | Darren McAulay, Rosi Yule, and Tony Monnery | ||
| 1993 | 15-Jul | Richard Gasson | ||
| 1993 | Jacqui Sread, Duncan Tunstall, and Mick Fowler | I climbed it with my husband Duncan Tunstall in the early ninties. I was a novice climber so it was my introduction to climbing. Mick fowler climbed up after us. Note: early 1990s so data table given year of 1993 as guess | ||
| 1992 | 03-Jun | Ben Yeats and Simon | I was studying an MSc at the ICIT in Stromness. I was looking for someone to climb it with (dream since I first saw it as a kid) and I was put in touch with Simon who worked at the outdoor centre (don’t know his surname). He had not climbed the Old Man and was about to leave the islands, so was desperate to climb despite the stormy conditions. Took longer longer than we expected, we got our rope stuck, and I missed the ferry (and ICIT diving trip the next day). I have very fond memories of climbing with Simon on that day awe we had an instinct to trust each other despite only meeting on that day and I never saw him again and can’t remember his surname (he did work with Nigel Foster a world renowned kayaker who work in Orkney for a while). It was so windy on top that we did not hang around and we did not realise there was a log book somewhere. A few years later my mother moved to Stromness and lived there for 25 years and my kids got bored of me saying I climbed that – every time we passed it on the ferry to see Granny. | |
| 1992 | 14-Jun | David Whittles Sjolie, Mark Stuart, and Bryan Edmunds | ||
| 1992 | 14-Jun | Trevor Wilson and Martin Bradley | Old man of Hoy climbed by the original route. 3 ½ hours including decent. | |
| 1991 | Sep | Simon Nadin, Matthew Nadin, and Nick Charnley | I climbed the Old Man East Face route when we were at university together. The midges were the worst I’ve ever experienced but there were none once we started climbing. The ascent plus descent took the three of us seven hours. It got dark as we walked back to the ferry so we got into our bivvy bags and went to sleep. We woke in someone’s front garden! We were amazed as Hoy has very few houses. There was also a friendly three legged dog that came to see us. When we got back to Stromness we got quite drunk and spent some time going up and down in the lifts of one of the hotels because it seemed funny at the time. Then we slept on the beach in the rain. Orkney is lovely. | |
| 1991 | 25-Jul | Richard Gasson | ||
| 1991 | Gavin Brown, Phil Young, Glenn Grant, Keith Muskett, Claire? (Phil’s then girlfriend), and Jim? | Edinburgh | We had had two previous attempts, the first got us as far as mainland Orkney when the rain closed in and the second saw the weather stop us at the Cairngorms. It’s funny the things you remember about the trip. Keith had a new car and milk got spilled in it on the way up, so you can imaging the smell when we got back after the weekend. Phil was keen we travelled light and carefully measured out food and gear. He was surprised to find some of us munching chocolate and fruit as we walked over to the stack- we had loads of spare room after he had whittled down our gear. We arrived at the top of the cliff in glorious sunshine, late afternoon, and two of us climbed it that evening, the others the next day. Then we walked back across the island to wait for the boat back. It was light early and I remember sitting watch and listening to the seals basking on the beach. Think I still have some photos somewhere. 1991 or 1992 | |
| 1990 | Jul | Colin Egan and Simon Clark | Climbed the old man on a perfect day. Was so calm trawler from Scrabster which had taken us over was able to tie up to rocks at base of old man was climb for “help the aged charity”. | |
| 1990 | 08-Jun | Richard Gasson | ||
| 1988 | 30-Aug | Neil Gregory and Patrick Meeds | Climbed the Old Man of Hoy by the original route. My girl friend at the time, now my wife took photos from the mainland as we climbed. We had good weather although it was very windy on top. We had the Old Man all to ourselves, no other climbers were around on the day, it was absolutely brilliant. | |
| 1988 | Jul | Alex Tysen (Maths) and Stewart McAslan (PE), Frazer Wade, Scott Stewart, Ian Cairnduff, and Andrew Norton (pupils – all 16/17) | Glasgow Academy | This group from Glasgow Academy Climbing Club also climbed The Old Man of Stoer in May 1988 as a training expedition to prepare for Hoy. Sadly Alex Tysen died the following year in a climbing accident. |
| 1987 | Aug | Angela Soper and Cynthia Grindley | It was a memorable adventure. See p.22 of Fell & Rock Journal 1990 https://frcc.co.uk | |
| 1986 | 08-Jun | Simon Lee, Steve, Harry, and Dave | Got alarmed by defensive seagulls and guano slippy footholds, went up, came back, great climb! | |
| 1985 | Sep | Raz Frew, Derek Scott, Al Macleod, Kas Taylor, Nick Sharpe, Jock Cameron | Mass ascent, The wind blowing straight through the top crack…. We abseiled off in one go, using a 500 ft rope tied right round the top. Wind blew me away from the land bridge and over the water. | |
| 1984 | Joe Brown, Zoe Brown | |||
| 1981 | Aug | Mike Grain and Chris Duck | We did the same route. There are two stories from this trip. I was leading to the top of pitch 3 and there was a fulmar about 2 feet from the belay peg, so, as we eyed each other up, the following conversation occurred. me: “hello bird” bird: “Aw” me: Do you mind if I just clip into the peg?” bird: “Aw” me: “I need to call to my friend now” bird: “Aw” me: “Climb when ready, Chris” Chris: “Climbing” A little while later as Chris comes into view, me: “My friend is just arriving” bird: “Aw” Chris: “What are you talking to that stupid bird for?” bird turns and throws up on Chris! So, somehow, perhaps they do understand. The bird then flew off, presumably to reload. We reached the yop without further incident. Chris asked me what we abseiled from and I showed him the BBC cable. I gave it a tug to test its security…..and it broke! We obviously fixed an alternative belay for the abseil, but it did concern me that it possibly was not that strong when my first group abseiled from the cable only 2 years earlier, nor indeed for any other climbers in those years. | |
| 1981 | Trevor Clarke, Peter Higgins, Barry Owen, and Bob Stickland | |||
| 1979 | 11-Aug | Mike Grain and Chris Kelsey, Jim Milton and John Hooper, Dave Garnett and Dave Armstrong, Claire Harkness (now O’Reilly) and Ian Tomlinson | University of Birmingham Mountaineering Club | I recall seeing the 1967 programme on the TV at the age of 14, but it never occurred to me at that time that I might be standing on top just 12 years later. There was a party of 8 of us that did the original route as 4 ropes of 2. We were all recent members of the University of Birmingham Mountaineering Club (aka The Stoats). An important detail at the time was to fix a rope on the second pitch so that, when descending, one could jumar back to the first stance as the ropes otherwise hung too far out and were not long enough to reach the ground from the second stance. The abseil from the summit was from a steel cable around the southerly top and was a relic from the BBC visit 12 years previously. |
| 1978 | Aug | Colin Fowler, Trevor Gunner, and Bill Heathrington | I will never forget it as we lost 2 ropes on the final abseil (maybe the first of many to do so). I was 18 and partially sighted; losing my sight and now blind. My son the late Dave Fowler who was tragically killed whilst guiding in Glencoe in August this year also climbed the Old Man but I am unsure of what year that was, and I can’t ask him now. | |
| 1977 | Jul | Jim Wilson and Chris Murray | We stayed at the hostel in Rackwick and had a look the night before we climbed it – we left some ropes and other gear overnight on the first pitch ledge. We didn’t return until later the following day because of weather. Someone saw the equipment and reported it to the coastguard and as a result, a small article appeared on the front page of the Daily Express I think, saying that coastguards were looking into a report of climbers being stuck on the stack. We had little trouble climbing it, but it was abit scary with the wind and the fulmars and getting back of it was much harder than the climb itself. | |
| 1975 | May | Fran MacDonald (nee Bashford) & Dave MacDonald | Newcastle | I climbed the Old Man in late May 1975 with Dave McDonald. I believe that I was the first woman to do the climb having checked the log book at the time. The message I left was ‘ grand’ ! It was a long weekend adventure traveling up from Newcastle and rushing to catch ferries between the islands. We were picked up on Hoy by Mr Moses in his taxi. After a dawn start, to get ahead of two Swiss lads, the day was great, despite the fulmars, and we were up and down in good time to catch return ferries and dash back south. I returned to Hoy about 14 years ago in order to spend longer there and appreciate the stack and the island’s magnificence. Fran McDonald ( nee Bashford as was then!) |
| 1972 | 25-May | John Smith, Robert Henderson, Martin Barnicott, and Richard Wilkinson | ||
| 1970 | 23-May | Les Bradbury and Lt. Nicholas R.M. | Were lifted off the top by helicopter to HMS Albion Anchored in Scapa Flow. I don’t know if that had been done before or since. | |
| 1968 | 09-Aug | Dave Lockwood, M Swift, and S Gillan | Parnassus Climbing Club, Sheffield | A very early ascent. We didn’t particularly publicise it but word got round on the boat back to the mainland. |
| 1967 | 08-Jul | Chris Bonnington, Tom Patey, Rusty Baillie, Joe Brown, Pete Crew, Dougal Haston, Ian McNaught Davis, John Cleare, Ian Clough, Hamish McInnes, George Wagland | BBC Outdoor broadcast televised climb | |
| 1967 | 14-Aug | J.Hadfield, J. Whiteley, and R. Turner | Parnassus MC, Sheffield | They built a cairn on top, inscribed with their names |
| 1967 | 15-Sep | John Mountain, David Helliwell (Snod) and Terry King | Parnassus MC | We’d watched the TV programme and said ‘we can do that’; and we did! The first free ascent. I was 21, Terry was a young teenager. Youngest to climb it I think. The hand drawn map from the first ascent was given to the lady whose B&B we all stayed in. I’ve climbed the Old Man twice since our first ascent in September 1967. In 2017 to celebrate 50th anniversary and one with my 2 brothers – in-law and members of the Northumberland MC. Happy memories. Still climbing. Still with the same friends. |
| 1966 | earlier than | Hamish Ross | Tankerness | Climbed before the televised climb. |
| 1966 | earlier than | James (Jim) McCartney | Climbed before the televised climb. | |
| 1966 | Chris Bonnington, Tom Patey |
In 1967 television history was made when the Old Man of Hoy was conquered by a team of six on screen. Chris Bonington, Tom Patey, took the East Face; Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis, the South Face; Peter Crew and Douglas Haston took the South-East Arête. A further crew of four climbers- Hamish MacInnes, John Cleare, Rusty Baillie and Ian Clough carried cameras and transmitters.
‘Close up of pebbly beach, rowing boat, birds, crofthouse, waves crash, zoom to pinnacle of the Old Man of Hoy, large tractor with caterpillar wheels hauling BBC equipment across bog…’ So begins the shot list for the most ambitious outdoor broadcast of the time.’
The event was big news across the UK but it was even bigger news in Rackwick. The influx of climbers, film crew and Scots Guards (who carted the gear including a shed) swelled the numbers in the valley considerably.
Richard Driss, Blue Peter presenter no.38 signed his name in the summit book in 2021.