Stac an Armin

About Stac an Armin

Rising sheer from the North Atlantic, this formidable sea stack is the highest in the British Isles. Situated in the St Kilda archipelago, its precipitous slopes of grass and rock were once the perilous hunting grounds of islanders. It offers a dramatic perspective of neighbouring Boreray and the jagged silhouette of Stac Lee.

Key Statistics

Find It

Did You Know?

• •The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic Stac an Àrmainn, meaning the 'Stack of the Warrior' or 'Soldier'. While the identity of the warrior is lost to history, the name likely stems from a local legend or a specific individual from the St Kilda community.
• •At 196 metres, this is the highest sea stack in the British Isles. It stands significantly taller than its famous counterparts, such as the Old Man of Hoy, making it one of the most difficult and remote Marilyns to reach.
• •In 1727, a group of three men and eight boys from Hirta were marooned on the stack for nine months. They had been left there to harvest gannets, but a devastating smallpox outbreak on the main island meant there were no able-bodied men left to launch a boat and retrieve them until the following spring.
• •The stack was one of the last known breeding sites for the Great Auk in the United Kingdom. In 1840, the last specimen recorded in the British Isles was captured and killed here by three islanders; they reportedly believed the flightless bird was a witch that had caused a storm.
• •The view from the summit area is dominated by the massive dark cliffs of Boreray just 400 metres to the south, while the white-streaked pinnacle of Stac Lee rises sharply from the sea to the southwest.
• •While technically classified as a 'Hump', the term feels somewhat inadequate for a near-vertical shard of rock that requires a death-defying boat leap and a technical climb just to begin the ascent.