East Face Route (E1 5B, 130m), The Old Man Of Hoy. Hoy, Orkneys
Me and the Red Arrow awaiting the ferry at Thurso |
It was a surprisingly stress free journey….
Maidenhead to Carlisle where we van-bivvied. Then Carlisle to Scrabster where we caught the 7pm ferry to Stromness. Bivvying in the Red Arrow on Orkney we then catch the 9am ferry to Hoy on Sunday. Wasting no time we drive to Rackwick bay and walked in.
From the ferry over |
Gloomy weather on the walk in |
After 30 minutes or so the Old Man looms up in front. Its windy and cold and the whole thing now looks much less inviting than it did when looking at pictures.
The first challenge is the cliff descent. Accidentally forgetting the walking poles and with the long journey now catching up with us this felt like a real ordeal. Steep, exposed and grassy, we slowly pick our way down which feels like an age.
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Our objective |
Pitch one is an easy ramp up to the nest.
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I take pitch two – a sandy traverse takes the you into a wide steep chimney (aka The Coffin). I shuffle up this placing large cams until it’s time to pull out onto the face. This now felt really hard! With Pilar 20 meters below and out of sight and earshot I desperately place a huge no5 Camelot and grovel round to easier ground. I plough on up the crack reaching the belay – Crux done!
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Me in the Coffin |
Pilar sets out on Pitch 3. This is steady climbing, however its dirty and sandy and what’s more, there are nesting Fulmars everywhere. Suddenly she yells as a Fulmar vomits fish oil straight in her face! Undeterred by the fishy goo she is now soaked in she cautiously continues to the belay. A stellar effort.
Pitch 3 - Courtesy of walkers |
I take Pitch four. This is climbing of a similar standard and I try to climb as cautiously as possible. Its sandy, there isn’t much protection and Fulmars are vomiting at me now too.
The final corner pitch is good quality. And we bridge and layback this clean corner to the top.
Puffins are everywhere, we are out of the shade now and in the sun, and we sit and have lunch whilst walkers take our photograph from the mainland. A brilliant moment.
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Pilar setting off |
The final abseil |
Slogging back up the cliff actually felt easy as high on adrenaline and chatting about the route we forgot about the steep exposure completely.
We chilled in Rackwick bay the next day. A beautiful setting with bothy (closed due to COVID) and pebble beach. No other climbers in the area apart from some climbing hard-nuts working a 500meter E9 on St Johns head nearby.
3.30 am light |
Georgeuos Rackwick |
We worked our way south from Hoy, sticking to the east of Scotland to avoid the poor weather in the west. Climbing at the amazing sea cliffs of Sarclet was one of the highlights. These cliffs are wild and remote and are made up of some amazing conglomerate rock which is some of the best I have ever climbed on. Routes like Sarclet Pimpernel (E1, 30m) and Groove Armada (HVS, 30m) were pristine. Abseiling into a tidal ledge with large rock architecture and seals – a real sea cliff atmosphere
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Me looking down midway on Silver Serfer |
We parked/bivvied in a remote location with just an old war grave and abandoned farm buildings around. A friendly farmer came by to chat.
Beautiful Sarclet |
Further south we cragged at the convenient Creag Dubh (brilliant), and Polney (also very good) before slogging back down south.
Me getting chili on a ledge |
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