| Scottish Gaelic name | Stac Biorach |
|---|---|
| Meaning of name | "sharply pointed stack" [1] |
 Stac Biorach (at left) and Stac Soay | |
| Location | |
  Stac Biorach Stac Biorach shown within the Outer Hebrides | |
| OS grid reference | NA071013 |
| Coordinates | 57°49′44″N 8°37′19″W / 57.829°N 8.622°W |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | St Kilda |
| Highest elevation | 73 m (240 ft) [2] |
| Administration | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | Scotland |
| Council area | Outer Hebrides |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
 | |
| References | [3] |
Stac Biorach ( Scottish Gaelic: "the pointed stack") is a sea stack, 73 metres tall, situated between Hirta and Soay (in the "Sound of Soay") in the St Kilda archipelago of Scotland. It lies west of Stac Shoaigh (Soay Stac) (61 metres). [3]
57°49′44″N 8°37′18″W / 57.82889°N 8.62167°W
History
The stack has never been inhabited, but has contributed considerably to the local economy by supplying the St Kildans with sea birds and their eggs. Rev. Neil MacKenzie, a Church of Scotland minister who resided on St Kilda from 1830 to 1844, observed the islanders collecting eggs from here in baskets like flat-bottomed bee hives, each basket holding about 400 eggs.[ citation needed]
Also known as "Thumb Stack" because the only holds on the rock are no bigger than a thumb [1] it is difficult to climb and "one which only a few of the natives could lead." [4] Quine (2000) describes the stack as "almost inaccessible" and adds that "even the St Kildans stopped climbing it around 1840". [5] [Note 1] Such was the remoteness of St Kilda from mainland Scotland that although described by Sir Robert Murray in the late 17th century, [1] [Note 2] Stac Biorach's exact location "remained a mystery" until Barrington's ascent in the late 19th century. [8]
Murray wrote that "after they landed, a man having room for but one of his feet, he must climb up 12 or 16 fathoms high. Then he comes to a place where having but room for his left foot and left hand, he must leap from thence to another place before him, which if hit right the rest of the ascent is easy... but if he misseth that footstep (as often times they do) he falls into the sea and the (boat's) company takes him in and he sits still until he is a little refreshed and then he tries it again, for everyone there is not able for that sport." [1]
Haswell-Smith states that landing is only possible on only three days in a summer month on average and that sailing the narrow channel betweem Stac Soay and Hirta is "possible in good weather". [1]
Recreational climbing
The first record of the recreational ascent of a sea stack in Scotland is likely that of Richard Barrington, [9] who climbed Stac Biorach in 1883. [6] An experienced alpinist, he called it the most dangerous climb he had ever undertaken. [10] [Note 3] He made the ascent with the help of two St Kildans, Donald McDonald and Donald McQueen. [6]
Today climbing in all of the St Kilda archipelago is subject to the permission of the National Trust for Scotland, [17] which rarely grants it. In 2023 a small group of British climbers, including Robbie Phillips from Edinburgh, completed the climb, the first documented ascent in 133 years. [13] Phillips said it "was like walking in the footsteps, or climbing in the fingerprints, of the St Kildans. It’s a testament to their bravery and mental fortitude; to climb onto that sea stack 70m above the raging Atlantic without even shoes is wild to imagine". [8]
Birdlife
Like the other islands in the St Kilda archipelago, Stac Biorach is extraordinarily rich in birdlife, and boasts the highest colony of guillemots in the archipelago. [18]
See also
Notes
- ^ However, this cannot be entirely true given their assistance to Barrington in 1883. [6]
- ^ Haswell-Smith gives the date as 1698, [1] although the relevant work - A Description of the island of Hirta appears to have been published in 1687. [7]
- ^ This ascent of Stac Biorach is the subject of a number of conflicting assertions. Mellor has this FA taking place in 1883 by "a C. Barrington". [9] Similarly, Haswell-Smith describes the training of young St Kildan's on the stack in 1698 and then states that "The first recorded outsider to climb both this stack and Stac Lee was Charles Barrington in 1883". [11] This refers to Richard's brother Charles who would have been 49 years old in 1883. Quine also states that the FA was in that year but by Richard Barrington. [12] The National Trust for Scotland have R. Barrington as the climber but the date as 1890, [8] a date repeated by the BBC. [13] Maclean has Richard Barrington making the ascent in 1929. [14] There is thus confusion about both the date of the ascent and which brother was the ascender. However, R. Barrington was 16 years younger than Charles and the Dictionary of Irish Biography makes it clear that it was the former who travelled to "remote islands off Scotland (1883, 1886, 1890)". [15] The original paper by R. Barrington in the Alpine Journal in 1913 also states that the year of the ascent was 1883. [6] Barrington wrote “the fact that a certain rivalry existed between myself and an elder brother who first ascended the Eiger induced me to visit St. Kilda in 1883, as I wished to test the ability of the natives as cragsmen, to compare them with Swiss guides, and to study the fauna and flora of this remote island, of which little was then known. It is thirty years ago next June since I ascended Stack-na-Biorrach, and therefore I trust I shall not be accused of hasty self-advertisement”. [16]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f Haswell-Smith 2004, pp. 322–23.
- ^ Mellor 2020, p. 139.
- ^ a b Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
- ^ Steven 1975, p. 39.
- ^ Quine 2000, p. 111.
- ^ a b c d Barrington 1913, pp. 199–201.
- ^ Taylor 1968, p. 140.
- ^ a b c "Robbie scales ‘The Thumb’ in St Kilda". National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
- ^ a b Mellor 2020, p. 9.
- ^ Heathcote 1901, p. 148.
- ^ Haswell-Smith 2004, p. 323.
- ^ Quine 2000, p. 121.
- ^ a b “St Kilda sea stack scaled for first time since 1890”. BBC News Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ Maclean 1992, p. 103.
- ^ "Barrington, Richard". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
- ^ Barrington 1913, p. 197.
- ^ National Trust for Scotland 2003, p. 103.
- ^ Maclean 1992, p. 99.
References
- Barrington, Richard M. (1913). "The Ascent of Stack-Na-Biorrach (The Pointed Stack), St Kilda". Alpine Journal. 27. London: Longmans, Green: 195-202.
- Heathcote, Norman (1901). "Climbing in St Kilda". Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal. 6. Scottish Mountaineering Club: 146–151. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
- Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
- Maclean, Charles (1992). St. Kilda: Island on the Edge of the World. Canongate Press. ISBN 978-0-86241-388-0.
- Mellor, Chris (January 2020). "An illustrated guide to sea stack climbing in the UK & Ireland" (PDF). needlesports. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- National Trust for Scotland (2003). St Kilda Management Plan 2003-2008 (PDF). National Trust for Scotland.
- Quine, David (2000). St Kilda. Grantown-on-Spey: Colin Baxter Island Guides. ISBN 1-84107-008-4.
- Steven, Campbell Rodger (1975). The Story of Scotland's Hills. R. Hale. ISBN 978-0-7091-4975-0.
- Taylor, A. B. (1968). "The Norsemen in St. Kilda". Saga-Book. 17. JSTOR/Viking Society for Northern Research: 116–144. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
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