Iain Miller is an adventurous spirit, guide, and guidebook author who is from Ireland and made it his ambition to climb all 100 of the unclimbed sea stacks along the northwestern coast of Ireland in Donegal County. Iain shares the best of the stacks here. For those who don't want to paddle cold, rough seas to reach their climbing objective, Iain also shares some climbing locations scattered across several islands in northwestern Ireland. Read on for a unique climbing experience and find Iain's resources below. To really get into the experience, view some of the YouTube videos of a few of the climbs, or hear Iain's Ted Talk on his adventures climbing some of these remote (and dangerous) stacks.
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CONTACT IAN:
Website: https://uniqueascent.ie/ Instagram: @uniqueascent YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IainMiller |
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County Donegal in the republic of Ireland contains more climbable rock than the rest of Ireland combined boasting two major Irish mountain ranges, over a thousand kilometres of coastline, one hundred sea stacks and many diverse climbing locations from the mudstone roofs at Muckross in the South West of the county to the sea-washed slabs of Malin Head, Ireland's most northerly point.
Donegal currently plays host to a lifetime's worth of world-class rock climbing in some of the most beautiful and unspoilt places in Ireland. The scope for further exploration and the opportunity to discover unclimbed rock is near unlimited, as there is an unexplored adventure waiting through every mountain pass and around every remote headland. Perhaps the most unusual climbing medium in County Donegal is its Sea Stacks. (A free online The Donegal Sea Stack Guidebook is available.) Along the western freeboard of County Donegal lies a collection of almost 100 gothic leviathans in the form of truly monstrous sea stacks. These sea stacks are the eroded remains of an ancient coastline as they stand testimony to thousands of years of wind and wave erosion on this very exposed and foreboding coastline. A sea stack is quite simply a tower of rock standing in the sea, formed by a thousand years of pounding waves. These towers provide many unique and complex mountaineering challenges to adventurous rock climbers. A typical sea stack climbing day will involve descending huge sea cliffs to access the storm beaches at their bases, paddling across the open ocean to gain the bottom of the stack, climbing the stack, multiple abseils off its summit, paddling back to the storm beach and re-ascending the sea cliff to be re- united with the real world. |
Stack Dún Briste in Downpatrick Head in County Mayo. This stack is known to only been climbed twice in 700 years. On the summit is a quern stone that was last used in the middle ages. (Photo Credit: Aidan McGinley)
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The main residence of the leviathans is An Port Road end, a little-known harbour almost 20 kilometers from the nearest main road near Ardara in County Donegal. It is arguably the most beautiful place in Ireland.
Traveling north along the base of a 250-meter high sea cliff, from this road end are a collection of 30 of the most outrageous sea stacks in the most remote and atmospheric locations in Ireland.
Traveling north along the base of a 250-meter high sea cliff, from this road end are a collection of 30 of the most outrageous sea stacks in the most remote and atmospheric locations in Ireland.
Overview map of Doengal County's larger sea stacks. The yellow square is the end of An Port road. A detail of that area is provided in the next map. (Credit: Iain Miller, Donegal Sea Stack Guidebook)
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Map of sea stacks at the end of An Port road (Credit: Iain Miller, Donegal Sea Stack Guidebook)
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An Bhuideal
The first true monster to be encountered is a kilometre from An Port road end and is a 50m high twin-towered sentinel known as An Bhuideal as the north tower is the shape of a huge wine bottle when seen from out to sea. An Bhuideal is a 50m twin summited sea stack which sits approximately 1.5km north of An Port and is quite simply an iconic sea stack. Its twin summits provide three rock climbs that have few equals in the country. It is easily an equal to the much better known Old Man of Stoer off the north west of Scotland. Tór Mór Island & Cnoc na Mara
A further kilometre along the coast is Tór Mór Island. At 160-meters high it is Ireland’s highest sea stack. In its shadow is Cnoc na Mara, a 100-meter high sharks fin shaped stack. Its 150-meter-long landward arête provides one of the most atmospheric rock climbs in the country. The final 58-meter ridge involves a knife edge ridge with considerable big air all round. Standing on the summit of Cnoc na Mara is a truly spiritual experience. Cnoc na Mara is an iconic and truly outstanding sea stack, when I first saw this 100-meter sea stack from the overlooking clifftops, it was the inspiration to make the first ascents of all 100 of Donegal’s unclimbed sea stacks. It is safe to say this stack represents all that is great about adventure climbing. It's impressive soaring 150-meter long landward arete provides one of the most rewarding and adventurous rock climbs in Ireland. It is easily an equal to the mighty Old Man of Hoy off the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland. |
An Bhuideal, Tór Mór (Tormore) Island, and Cnoc na Mara from the surrounding cliff tops. (Photo Credit: Iain Miller, IG: @uniqueascent)
Video: Ian Miller on the first free ascent of Tormore Island (2 minutes 11 seconds)
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Video: Iain Miller gives a 15 minute Tedx Talk about what's involved with climbing a remote sea stack and factors climbers consider when getting on the rock and taking risks.
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Video: Iain Miller free solos Cnoc na Mara. (2 minutes 37 seconds)
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Climber atop Cnoc na Mara sea stack (Photo Credit: Iain Miller, IG: @uniqueascent)
Topo of Stac an Beag (Credit: Donogal Sea Stack Guidebook)
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Author Iain Miller on Stac an Beag (Photo Credit: Iain Miller, IG: @uniqueascent)
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Stac an Iolar, Center Stack
The Donegal islands of Árainn Mhór, Uaigh, Gola and Toraigh all provide a further huge collection of world-class sea stack climbing in breathtakingly beautiful surroundings. On the southwest corner of Árainn Mhór sits Stac an Iolar, the sea stack icon. This 40-meter-high super skinny blade of rock sits in an amphitheatre of outstanding natural beauty in the form of 60-meter-high overhanging sea cliffs. An ascent of this sea stack will live forever in your memory. On Toraigh, Center Stack is a 50-meter high spire standing proud on the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Its summit views provide an open vista towards the eastern coastline of the USA. The Western freeboard of County Donegal is prone to very large seas rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean due to the North Atlantic Drift tide stream. A thorough and comprehensive knowledge of both the sea and rock climbing best practices is essential for a safe ascent and return from these very special locations. When the ocean is not playing ball, there are over 3000 recorded rock climbs in Donegal. The following three granite islands provide three very different climbing locations. |
Three tiny climbers on the summit of Stac an Iolar in south west Árainn Mhór (Photo Credit: Caoimhe Gleeson)
Center Stack area (Credit: Donogal Sea Stack Guidebook)
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Darren Ryan playing on Tor na Mhadadh Uisce in Cladagh an Rón on Uaigh (Photo Credit: Iain Miller, IG: @uniqueascent)
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Author Iain Miller atop Bristi Sea Stack after free soloing up it. (Photo Credit: Iain Miller, IG: @uniqueascent)
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Cruit Island, Gola Island, & Uaigh
Cruit Island is a low-lying granite island which is connected to mainland Donegal by a bridge. The island has well over 300 climbs, mostly around the severe grade (5.5 to 5.7). Gola Island in western Donegal is the big brother of Cruit Island, with well over 200 single-pitch routes from Diff to E5 on the Granite sea cliffs and inland outcrops scattered throughout the island. In the main, the rock is immaculate sea- washed granite with only some of the more sheltered zawns containing sections of loose rock. As a very general rule, the best of the climbing on Gola Island is in the VS to E2 (5.7 to 5.11) grade range. Uaigh lives off the seaward end of Cruit Island. Although the climbing on Uaigh is similar to that on Gola Island, the rock and general layout of Uaigh have a slightly more adventurous feel to them. The best climbing on Uaigh is in the E3 and above price range. |
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