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The '''Old Man of Hoy''' is a {{convert|449|ft}} [[Stack (geology)|sea stack]] on the island of [[Hoy]], [[Orkney]]. Formed from [[Old Red Sandstone]], it is the one of the tallest stacks in Britain. The Old Man is a popular climbing route, and was first climbed in 1966. |
The '''Old Man of Hoy''' is a {{convert|449|ft}} [[Stack (geology)|sea stack]] on the island of [[Hoy]], [[Orkney]]. Formed from [[Old Red Sandstone]], it is the one of the tallest stacks in Britain. The Old Man is a popular climbing route, and was first climbed in 1966. |
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Created by the erosion of a cliff through [[hydraulic action]], the stack is no more than a few hundred years old. It is an important habitat for [[seabird]]s. |
Created by the erosion of a cliff through [[hydraulic action]] some time after 1750, the stack is no more than a few hundred years old. It is an important habitat for [[seabird]]s, and other wildlife can be seen in the locality. |
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==Geography== |
==Geography== |
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It stands close to Rackwick Bay on the west coast of the island of [[Hoy]], in the [[Orkney Islands]], [[Scotland]], and can be seen from the [[Scrabster]] to [[Stromness]] ferry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/old-man-of-hoy/ |title=Facts about the Old Man of Hoy |publisher=NorthLink Ferries |accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref> From certain angles it is said to resemble a human figure.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/dayslikethis/stories/my_old_man.shtml |title=My Old Man |publisher=Radio Scotland |accessdate=27 October 2013}}</ref> |
It stands close to Rackwick Bay on the west coast of the island of [[Hoy]], in the [[Orkney Islands]], [[Scotland]], and can be seen from the [[Scrabster]] to [[Stromness]] ferry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/old-man-of-hoy/ |title=Facts about the Old Man of Hoy |publisher=NorthLink Ferries |accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref> From certain angles it is said to resemble a human figure.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/dayslikethis/stories/my_old_man.shtml |title=My Old Man |publisher=Radio Scotland |accessdate=27 October 2013}}</ref> |
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Wind are faster than {{convert|8|m/s|mph}} for nearly a third of the time, and gales occur on average for 29 days a year. Combined with the depth of the sea, which quickly falls to {{Convert|60|m}}, a high-energy wave climate on the western side of Hoy leads to rapid erosion.<ref name="jncc">{{cite journal |url=http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/gcrdb/GCRsiteaccount2304.pdf |title=West Coast of Orkney |last=Hansom |first=Jim |year=2007 |publisher=JNCC}}</ref> |
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==Geology== |
==Geology== |
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⚫ | The Old Man of Hoy is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Red_Sandstone|red sandstone]] stack, perched on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plinth|plinth]] of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt|basalt]] rock, and currently the tallest sea stack in Britain.<ref /><ref /> It is separated from the mainland by a {{convert|60|m}} chasm strewn with debris, and has nearly vertical sides with a top just a few metres wide.<ref name=jncc/> The rock is composed of layers of soft, sandy and pebbly [[sandstone]] and harder [[flagstone]]s of [[Old Red Sandstone]], giving the sides a notched and slab-like profile.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00369229518736960 |title=The old man of Hoy |year=1995 |last1=Hansom |first1=James D. |last2=Evans |first2=David J. A. |journal=Scottish Geographical Magazine |volume=111 |issue=3 |pages=172-174}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishgeology.com/geo/regional-geology/northern_isles/old-man-of-hoy/ |title=Old Man of Hoy |publisher=scottishgeology.com |accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref> |
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It is separated from the mainland by a {{convert|60|m}} chasm strewn with debris from the collapsed arch that used to connect it to the mainland.<ref name=jncc>{{cite journal |url=http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/gcrdb/GCRsiteaccount2304.pdf |title=West Coast of Orkney |last=Hansom |first=Jim |year=2007 |publisher=JNCC}}</ref> The sides are nearly vertical, and the top is only a few metres wide.<ref name=jncc/> The Old Man of Hoy is a [[Old Red Sandstone|red sandstone]] stack, perched on a [[plinth]] of [[basalt]] rock, and currently the tallest sea stack in Britain.<ref>{{harvnb|Seward|2011|p=230}}</ref><ref name=wlg/> |
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⚫ | The rock is composed of layers of soft, sandy and pebbly [[sandstone]] and harder [[flagstone]]s of [[Old Red Sandstone]], giving the sides a notched and slab-like profile.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00369229518736960 |title=The old man of Hoy |year=1995 |last1=Hansom |first1=James D. |last2=Evans |first2=David J. A. |journal=Scottish Geographical Magazine |volume=111 |issue=3 |pages=172-174}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishgeology.com/geo/regional-geology/northern_isles/old-man-of-hoy/ |title=Old Man of Hoy |publisher=scottishgeology.com |accessdate=25 January 2014}}</ref> |
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== History == |
== History == |
Revision as of 10:34, 26 January 2014
The Old Man of Hoy is a 449 feet (137 m) sea stack on the island of Hoy, Orkney. Formed from Old Red Sandstone, it is the one of the tallest stacks in Britain. The Old Man is a popular climbing route, and was first climbed in 1966.
Created by the erosion of a cliff through hydraulic action some time after 1750, the stack is no more than a few hundred years old. It is an important habitat for seabirds, and other wildlife can be seen in the locality.
Geography
It stands close to Rackwick Bay on the west coast of the island of Hoy, in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, and can be seen from the Scrabster to Stromness ferry.[1] From certain angles it is said to resemble a human figure.[2]
Wind are faster than 8 metres per second (18 mph) for nearly a third of the time, and gales occur on average for 29 days a year. Combined with the depth of the sea, which quickly falls to 60 metres (200 ft), a high-energy wave climate on the western side of Hoy leads to rapid erosion.[3]
Geology
The Old Man of Hoy is a [sandstone] stack, perched on a [[1]] of [[2]] rock, and currently the tallest sea stack in Britain.Cite error: The opening <ref>
tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page).Cite error: The opening <ref>
tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). It is separated from the mainland by a 60 metres (200 ft) chasm strewn with debris, and has nearly vertical sides with a top just a few metres wide.[3] The rock is composed of layers of soft, sandy and pebbly sandstone and harder flagstones of Old Red Sandstone, giving the sides a notched and slab-like profile.[4][5]
History
The Old Man is probably less than 250 years old, and may soon collapse.[3][6] The stack is not mentioned in the Orkneyinga saga, written c.1230, and on the Blaeu map of 1600, a headland exists at the point where the Old Man is now.[6] The McKenzie map of Hoy of 1750 similarly shows a headland but no stack, but by 1819 the Old Man had been separated from the mainland.[6] William Daniell sketched the sea stack at this time as a wider column with a smaller top section and an arch at the base, from which it derived its name.[6][7]
Sometime in the early 19th century, a storm washed away one of the legs leaving it much as it is today, although erosion continues.[6] In 1992, a 40 metres (130 ft) crack had appeared in the top of the south face to leave a large overhanging section that will eventually collapse.[6][8][3]
Climbing
The stack was first climbed by Chris Bonington, Rusty Baillie and Tom Patey in 1966.[9][10] On 8–9 July 1967, an ascent featured in The Great Climb, a live BBC three-night outside broadcast, which had around 15 million viewers.[11] This featured three pairs of climbers: Bonington and Patey repeated their original route, whilst two new lines were climbed, by Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis, and by Pete Crew and Dougal Haston.[12] In 1984 Brown climbed the Old Man again, this time with his daughter Zoe and Murray Hamilton and Pete Willance.[13]
There are currently seven routes up the stack, with the most common being the original landward facing E1.[14][15] A small RAF log book in a Tupperware container is buried in a cairn on the summit, as an ascensionists' record.[16][17] As many as fifty ascents of the stack are made each year.[17]
The Old Man appears in the "Trailer sketch" of the Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "Archaeology Today" in which the voiceover (Eric Idle) says that in the upcoming BBC Television season, singer Lulu "will be tackling The Old Man of Hoy".
BASE jump
Roger Holmes, Gus Hutchinson-Brown and Tim Emmett made the first BASE jump from the stack on 14 May 2008.[18] Hutchinson-Brown died 11 days later during a jump in Switzerland.[19]
Wildlife
A large swathe of the north part Hoy is managed by the RSPB as a nature reserve.[20] In spring and summer, guillemots, razorbills, puffins, kittiwakes, shags, and fulmars nest on cliffs, and there are colonies of manx shearwaters and common and arctic terns.[20] Whales can be seen in the sea around Orkney.[21][22]
References
Citations
- ^ "Facts about the Old Man of Hoy". NorthLink Ferries. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ "My Old Man". Radio Scotland. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- ^ a b c d Hansom, Jim (2007). "West Coast of Orkney" (PDF). JNCC.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Hansom, James D.; Evans, David J. A. (1995). "The old man of Hoy". Scottish Geographical Magazine. 111 (3): 172–174. doi:10.1080/00369229518736960.
- ^ "Old Man of Hoy". scottishgeology.com. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Jim Hansom. "Old Man of Hoy". Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ "William Daniell: The Old Man of Hoy". Tate. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ^ "The Old Man of Hoy". Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ "1966 climb: The Old Man of Hoy". Mountaineering Council of Scotland. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ Thompson 2011, p. 231
- ^ "The Great Climb". BBC Scotland. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ Latter 2009, p. 452
- ^ "The Old Man of Hoy". British Film Institute. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ^ "The Old Man of Hoy". orkney-seastacks.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ Chris Mellor. "The Old Man of Hoy: the routes". UKClimbing. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ Red Szell. "The Blind Man of Hoy". UKClimbing. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ a b Grylls 2009, p. 234
- ^ Roger Holmes. "Old Man Of Hoy - BASE 1st Descent". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ "Angus Hutchison-Brown". The Scotsman. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ a b Taylor 2009, p. 228
- ^ "Hoy Nature Reserve". RSPB. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ "Orkney Whales". orkney.com. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
Sources
- Grylls, Bear (2009). Bear Grylls Great Outdoor Adventures. Random House. ISBN 9781905026524.
- Latter, Gary (2009). Scottish Rock: North. Pesda Press. ISBN 9781906095079.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Seward, Albert Charles (2011). Geology for Everyman. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521238977.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Taylor, Marianne (2009). Where to Discover Nature in Britain and Northern Ireland. A & C Black. ISBN 9781408108642.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Thompson, Simon (2011). Unjustifiable Risk?. Cicerone Press Limited. ISBN 9781849653138.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help)
External links
- The Orcadian (newspaper) 11 August 1977
- The Rock Queen at IMDb Catherine Destivelle's solo ascent in 1998
- Aerial photo of the Old Man of Hoy in 1947