Old Man of Hoy facts for kids
The Old Man of Hoy is a huge rock column, called a sea stack. It stands about 449 feet (137 meters) tall on the island of Hoy. Hoy is part of the Orkney islands, which are off the north coast of Scotland. This amazing rock is made of Old Red Sandstone. It is one of the tallest sea stacks in the whole United Kingdom. Many climbers love to challenge themselves by climbing the Old Man. The first time someone successfully climbed it was in 1966. It was formed by the sea slowly wearing away a cliff. This happened after the year 1750. So, the Old Man is only a few hundred years old. Scientists think it might eventually fall into the sea.
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Where is the Old Man of Hoy?
The Old Man stands near Rackwick Bay on the west coast of Hoy island in Orkney, Scotland. You can see it from the ferry that travels between Scrabster and Stromness. Some people say it looks like a human figure when viewed from certain angles.
The area around the Old Man of Hoy is very windy. Winds often blow faster than 8 miles per second (18 miles per hour). Strong gales happen about 29 days each year. The sea here is also very deep, quickly dropping to 60 meters (200 feet). These strong winds and deep, powerful waves cause the coast to wear away very quickly.
What is the Old Man of Hoy Made Of?
The Old Man of Hoy is a red sandstone stack. It sits on a base of basalt rock. It is one of the tallest sea stacks in the United Kingdom. A 60-meter (200-foot) gap filled with rocks separates it from the main land. The sides of the Old Man are almost straight up and down. Its top is only a few meters wide.
The rock is made of layers of soft, sandy, and pebbly sandstone. It also has harder layers of flagstones, which are part of the Old Red Sandstone group. These different layers give the stack its unique notched and slab-like look.
How Old is the Old Man of Hoy?
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The Old Man of Hoy is probably less than 250 years old. It might even collapse into the sea someday. The stack is not mentioned in the Orkneyinga saga, a book written around 1230. On a map from 1600 by Willem Blaeu, there was a headland (a piece of land sticking out into the sea) where the Old Man is now. The McKenzie map of Hoy from 1750 also shows a headland, not a stack.
However, by 1819, the Old Man had separated from the mainland. At that time, William Daniell drew the sea stack. His drawing shows it as a wider column with a smaller top section and an arch at its base. This arch is where it got its name, as it looked like a person with two legs.
Sometime in the early 1800s, a big storm washed away one of its "legs." This left it looking much like it does today. But the rock continues to wear away. By 1992, a 40-meter (130-foot) crack had appeared near the top of its south side. This crack created a large overhanging part that will eventually fall off.
People and the Old Man of Hoy
Climbing the Old Man
The Old Man of Hoy was first climbed by three mountaineers: Chris Bonington, Rusty Baillie, and Tom Patey. They reached the top in 1966.
A year later, from July 8–9, 1967, a climb of the Old Man was shown live on a BBC TV show called The Great Climb. About 15 million people watched it! Three teams of climbers took part. Bonington and Patey climbed their original route again. Two new paths were climbed by Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis, and by Pete Crew and Dougal Haston.
In 1998, Catherine Destivelle became the first person to climb the Old Man of Hoy by herself. She did this while she was four months pregnant.
Red Széll was the first blind person to climb the Old Man. He has a condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which means he can only see about 5% of what most people can. With help from Martin Moran and Nick Carter, he climbed the stack in 2013.
The youngest person to climb the Old Man is Edward Mills. He was only 8 years old when he finished the climb in 4 hours and 55 minutes on June 9, 2018. He did it to raise money for a charity called Climbers Against Cancer, because his mother had breast cancer. His trainers, Ben West and Cailean Harker, climbed with him.
There are seven different ways to climb up the stack. The most common way is the original route that faces the land. This route is rated as E1 (Extremely Severe). Climbers who reach the top can find a log book in a plastic container hidden in a small pile of rocks. They can sign their names there to record their climb. About fifty people climb the stack each year.
BASE Jumping
Roger Holmes, Gus Hutchinson-Brown, and Tim Emmett made the first BASE jump from the stack on May 14, 2008. Sadly, Hutchinson-Brown died 11 days later during another jump in Switzerland. On July 27, 2019, two climbers from Poland, Filip Kubica and Dominik Grajner, also BASE jumped from the top.
Highline Walking
On July 10, 2017, Alexander Schulz completed a highline walk to and from the summit. A highline is a tightrope walk done at a great height. He walked on a line 180 meters (200 yards) long, 137 meters (449 feet) above the sea.
See also
In Spanish: Old Man of Hoy para niños
