Isle of Skye Old Man of Storr
The Old Man of Storr is the most distinctive and most celebrated rocky pinnacle on the Isle of Skye, a 50-metre column of basalt standing on the Trotternish escarpment above Portree whose unusual profile, created by a massive ancient landslide that left the pinnacle and its companions isolated on the hillside below the main cliff face, has made it one of the iconic images of the Hebrides and one of the most visited natural features in Scotland. The walk from the car park below to the pinnacles takes approximately one hour and provides increasingly dramatic views of the stack and the surrounding Trotternish landscape.
The geological history of the Old Man of Storr explains its unusual isolated position. The Trotternish escarpment is the largest landslide complex in Britain, created when the heavy basalt rock that caps the peninsula slid westward over the softer underlying sedimentary rocks in a series of catastrophic slips that have created the extraordinary landscape of isolated pinnacles, tilted blocks and jumbled rock scenery visible across the northern section of the Trotternish ridge. The Old Man and its companions are the most impressive and most photographed remnants of this process.
The views from the vicinity of the Old Man encompass Portree Harbour and the Portree Bay below, the Sound of Raasay and the island of Raasay itself, the mainland Hills of Torridon visible across the Minch and the Cuillin ridgeline to the south, a panorama that captures the full extent of the extraordinary Skye landscape from a single vantage point.