Stac Lee
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Stac Lee (Scottish Gaelic: Stac Liath, the grey stack; 172 metres, NA142049) is an island in St Kilda, Scotland that appears to be white because of gannet droppings. It is also a Marilyn. The extraordinary Stac an Armin nearby reaches 196 metres (643 ft), making them the highest sea stacks in Britain.[1][2]
There are six thousand gannets nests on Stac Lee.
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[edit] Geography and geology
Stac Lee is a European island, located in the the North Atlantic. It is situated to the west of Scotland and forms part of the St Kilda archipelago, which is itself often considered part of the Outer Hebrides. Administratively, it falls under the Western Isles, which is a council region of Scotland.
The rock is situated in the north east of the St Kilda group, around 7.5 km to the north west of Hirta, the main island, and it is 550 m to the west of the west cape of the island of Boreray.
[edit] Topography
Stac Lee is a stack, i.e. a detached escarpment, culminating with 171.9 metres of altitude, often rounded up to 172 metres, although other sources mention an altitude of 165 metres, or 220 metres above the sea bed. It is also a Marilyn because the difference in altitude between the base of the rock and its top is higher than 150 metres. Seen from the south, the rock appears as an imposing cliff as broad as high, while seen from the west it has the aspect of a thin needle with a top bevelled at an angle of 45°. The most impressive view would be that obtained from the south-east from where Stac Lee would take the shape of a "giant hook".
[edit] History
Incredibly, there is a small bothy on the precipitous Stac Lee, formerly used by St Kildan fowlers. It is big enough to accommodate two people and is dry inside. The St Kildans would land here by lassooing an iron peg, and then jumping when the swell rose up.
Martin Martin called the island "Stac-Ly".
In 1969, two mountaineers climbed it, and claimed that the south east corner was best to land on, but even on a calm day, the swell can rise and fall by as much as five metres.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ National Trust for Scotland - St Kilda. Retrieved 06.01.07.
- ^ The heights are from Haswell-Smith op cit, although the National Trust website states 191 metres & 165 metres respectively.
- The Scottish Islands - Haswell-Smith, Hamish
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