Talk:Stac an Armin

A fact from Stac an Armin appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 16 February 2009, and was viewed approximately 5,628 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that on Stac an Armin, the highest stack in Scotland, the last great auk (example pictured) in the British Isles was clubbed to death in 1840 because it was thought to be a witch?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2009/February.

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Climbing[edit]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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

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)[reply]

Check. Thanks for providing the sources. Drmies (talk) 18:09, 6 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have deleted the claim that "permission has not been granted for several years". I was among those named in a successful application in November 2013, although I was not part of the group of 12 that went out there with intent to climb. Some of them succeeded in climbing Boreray but the near perennial adverse sea swell prevented any landing on Soay, Stac an Armin or Stac Lee. Viewfinder (talk) 16:02, 13 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Name of stack in article[edit]

The article is called Stac an Armin and that is the name given in the infobox. But in the article it's called Stac an Àrmainn. I appreciate that it has two names, but shouldn't one be used consistently? Ericoides (talk) 18:51, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I had been thinking much the same myself. There was a brief discussion on this here. Can anyone find a source that gives the correct Gaelic spelling (Stac an Àrmainn)? If we can't find one, we should probably use the Anglicised version (Stac an Armin). —ras52 (talk) 19:33, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Answering my own question, yes, we can (written in Gaelig). —ras52 (talk) 19:48, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK, so the official St Kilda webpage treats "Stac an Armin" as the English name and "Stac an Àrmainn" as the Gaelic name; similarly with "Stac Lee" and "Stac Lì". (Compare: Gaelic version and English version.) Given this, I suggest the article should use "Stac an Armin" throughout and just note the Gaelic version parenthetically in the opening sentence: "Stac an Armin (Gaelic: Stac an Àrmainn) ...". —ras52 (talk) 19:57, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Good work. Ericoides (talk) 09:08, 11 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"(Gaelic: Stac an Àrmainn)" - Correction - should read "Scottish Gaelic:..." --MacRusgail (talk) 20:42, 11 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. You might want to correct Ben Nevis and Scotland too while you're at it. They both just say 'Gaelic'. —ras52 (talk) 00:07, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Johnny comes lately here: when I got to work on this article I continued it the way I found it, so to speak. But I agree with the decision, and thank you for the cleanup. Drmies (talk) 15:55, 16 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Warrior[edit]

I'd suggest that the "warrior" in question is more likely a reference to it as a figure, rather than hunting nearby the stack. Sealgair is the more usual term for a hunter. Many mountains/rocks etc are named after their appearance.-MacRùsgail (talk) 18:46, 2 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment comment[edit]

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Stac an Armin/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

The "high" rating is due to its status as the highest "obelisk" in Scotland. --MacRusgail 07:32, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Last edited at 07:32, 22 August 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 06:50, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

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How did the auk climb?[edit]

It is clearly difficult to climb the stack. Never the less the great auk did walk up there on flat feet. That sounds to me like a contradiction. Can anyone explain? 195.249.232.63 (talk) 13:01, 27 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]