The Old Man of Hoy: How Scotland’s Towering Sea Stack Lost a Leg and May Soon Fall

Off the west coast of Hoy, one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, stands a tall column of rock known as the Old Man of Hoy. It rises sharply from the Atlantic, reaching 137 meters (450 ft) high — that’s around the height of a 45-story building. What makes it so striking isn’t just its size, but how it appears to stand alone, separated from the nearby cliffs by years of wind and sea erosion.

This sandstone sea stack hasn’t been around very long, at least in geological terms. It’s believed to have formed sometime in the last few hundred years. Older maps from the 1700s don’t show it as a separate stack, and early 19th-century drawings suggest it used to have an arch or a second leg. That extra support collapsed at some point, leaving the single column we see today. It’s rare to find sea stacks this tall, and the fact that this one is relatively young — and still changing — makes it a bit of a geological curiosity.

The rock itself is mostly red sandstone layered over a base of basalt. These layers are part of what makes it so prone to erosion. Waves continuously crash at its base, and the wind, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles gradually wear it away. There’s a large crack running down one side, which has led some geologists to think the whole structure might eventually fall into the sea. When that will happen, no one can say for sure.

Besides its stunning looks, the Old Man of Hoy has become a landmark for another reason — people like to climb it. It wasn’t until 1966 that anyone tried though. That year, climbers Chris Bonington, Rusty Baillie, and Tom Patey became the first to reach the top. Their route involved scaling its overhanging face, loose stone and all.

A year later, the BBC aired a live broadcast of a second ascent, which drew a huge audience of around 15 million people. Since then, the stack has been seen as a kind of challenge in the climbing world. It’s difficult but not impossible, and that’s made it a popular goal for climbers looking for a dramatic experience.

Not all feats involving the Old Man of Hoy have been about climbing. In 2008, it became the site of a BASE jump. Then in 2013, it was climbed by Red Szell, who was the first blind person known to complete the ascent. These stories have added a modern layer to the rock’s growing reputation.

The Old Man of Hoy is part of the landscape protected by Hoy and the West Mainland National Scenic Area. It’s also visible from ferries sailing between mainland Scotland and the Orkneys, and for those hiking the cliffs on Hoy itself, it’s a rewarding sight after a long walk across open ground. Standing on the clifftops with sea birds wheeling above and waves hammering the coast below, the stack looks both sturdy and fragile at once.

The future of the Old Man of Hoy is uncertain, but for now, it stands as a striking part of a coast shaped by wind, waves, and time. And that time might sometimes be relatively short…

Sources: 1, 2, 3