Talk:Stac an Armin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of the Scottish Islands WikiProject, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of islands in Scotland. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
Start	This page has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale.
High	This article has been rated as high-importance on the importance scale.
Article Grading: Comments have been left by the quality and importance raters Purge server cache

	This article falls within the scope of WikiProject UK geography, a user-group dedicated to building a comprehensive and quality guide to places in the United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you wish to participate, share ideas or merely get tips you can join us at the project page where there are resources, to do lists and guidelines on how to write about settlements.	United Kingdom Portal
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the assessment scale. (Assessment comments)
Low	This article has been rated as low-importance within the UK geography WikiProject.

[edit] Climbing

Anyone have info on the climbing history of this stack? Was it ascended long ago? Are there famous hard routes? Is climbing on it legal? It would be nice to have such info in the article. -- Spireguy (talk) 21:55, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Haswell-Smith says "it is the highest monolith in the British Isles and yet it was regularly climbed by the St Kildans to collect eggs and birds". Martin Martin, writing in c 1695 says, "there is a possibility of landing only in two places, and that but in a perfect calm neither, and after landing the danger in climbing it is very great" and that "here are several stone pyramids … for lodging the inhabitants that attend the seasons of the solan gees". The St Kildans were seriously adept climbers, so it isn't surprising that they regularly climbed the stack. My understanding is that climbing on the stack requires permission from the National Trust for Scotland which is very rarely granted. —ras52 (talk) 01:05, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Looks like you are the person to add this info to the article. -- Spireguy (talk) 14:10, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I will try to get around to it, though I've been snowed under with work recently. Meanwhile, some further sources

• The St Kilda management plan, 2003–2008, particularly section 6.4 "Climbing and Diving".
• St Kilda Bylaws: 10 is about climbing.
• A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland — Martin Martin's 1695 guide.

—ras52 (talk) 18:24, 17 April 2008 (UTC)