Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Marilyn Bagging on Fair Isle - 1552 for Iain Brown

Iain ties the Marilyn record at 1552!

Iain Brown, from Wales, now living in Edinburgh,   came to the Fair Isle to climb  his "final" Marilyn in the UK. Ward Hill 217meters, this is Iain,s 1552nd  Marilyn! What's a Marilyn? A Marilyn is a hill with a prominance of 150 metres or greater, , that is a drop of 150m (500 feet) on all sides    There are 1554 Marilyns in Britain but the 2 inaccessible stacs in St Kilda  (Stac Lee and Stac Armin) have not been climbed by any of the Marilyn Baggers, though the other hill of St Kilda are on Iain's list. So no one has completed all the Marilyns on list. Iain says that is sort of the beauty of the thing. (always one or two hills to far) Iain has travelled the length of Britain in his quest. There are only 3 others that have reached 1552 to date. Iain also walked most of the Fair Isle's coastline and the other top spots Malcolm's Head, Hoini & Vassetter. Over dinner we discussed at length Iain's wish to climbing Sheep Rock? No one has been up there in over 25 years... Congratulations Iain! you're "Tops" with us! I think he saved the best for last.


          
Short video interview with Iain.

For more info:        Scottish Marilyns
See book:      The Relative Hills of Britain  by Alan Dawson

Fair Isle from plane... Ward Hill is the highest point of the Isle.

2 comments:

  1. the last time I heard of Sheep Rock being climbed was in 1997 when I went up with Neil, Stewart, Eileen, Ross, Inness and a couple others. Are the chains still there? not sure I'd want to be the first to check them. Hope to get back up FI's Marilyn in the Autumn

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    1. Hi Mark, Are you able to share any photos of the ascent route and information for climbing sheep rock. The chains may be dodgy but I was wondering how difficult it may be to climb it chain free? Thanks and best regards, Bob

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