The First Great Climb The Adventure Show

Almost 140 years ago,

three men crossed from the Hebridean Island of Lewis

to the North West coast of Scotland.

They came to attempt an audacious feat that is now almost forgotten.

Failure would have meant certain death.

Success, won against all the odds, gave birth to a new sport.

This is their story.

-Argh.

-Go on.

Come on!

In 2010, we made history on the Island of Harris,

with the first live high definition climbing broadcast in the world.

The stars of the programme were two outstanding rock athletes -

Dave McCleod and Tim Emmett.

The great climb showcased the sports' leading edge.

Hard, unforgiving technical climbing at the very highest standard.

This is audacious climbing.

Today, Scotland has some of the best climbers anywhere,

but where did climbing begin and who invented it?

The answer is surprising and little known.

This is the Island of Handa off the north west coast of Sutherland.

Today, no-one lives here permanently.

But for part of the year, it's one of Scotland's most important

breeding sites for sea birds,

many of them nesting on the island's dramatic landmark - The Great Stack.

In 1876, it caught the attention of three crofters

and fishermen from Lewis.

They had a simple but potentially deathly ambition -

to be the first people to stand on the top of The Great Stack.

Callum Ferguson was born

and brought up in the same community the men came from.

You are talking of my people there from Nis.

I claim possession of them.

I am told at least one of them was from Eoropie

and the other from Knockaird in Nis

and it was just amazing. It was a feat of courage

and daring and fool-hardiness.

Like so many things in our nature,

I think that you are following part of the dictation of your genes,

your genes are suggesting to you

that you are able to do it, so you do it.

There is only one problem in getting to the top of The Great Stack.

It stands almost 400 feet above the pounding sea.

One side is separated from the main island by 80 feet,

and the other is even further away.

Even today, experienced climbers are in awe of what happened here,

when the three men from Lewis devised a method

to stand on its summit.

Terrifying, doing it with modern gear, with a harness,

with...

You know, in a safe position...

I find things like that, Tyrolean traverses, quite exciting enough!

But to do it just hanging onto the rope, without any safety,

just a big drop into the sea, the idea of doing that is just...

Yeah, I don't think I would!

I think they were very, very bold. They'd have had to be very strong,

otherwise they probably would have all killed themselves.

For me, I look back and think I wouldn't do that with the knowledge

I have now, I wouldn't do it and I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

But I think, probably for them, it was a real adventure in something.

A bit like doing any first ascent is "Oh, I wonder if we can do that."

And that was probably right at the cusp of what is humanly possible.

The three men from Lewis had little in the way of equipment,

but they brought 600 feet of rope.

Their plan was simple in theory.

Working from the land on either side of the stack they wanted to pull

their rope tight and position it so it ran across the top.

Then one of their party would go hand over hand along the rope.

Today, three of Scotland's best climbers are attempting

to emulate that feat.

They'll be using the equipment and clothing of the time.

I suspect, from what I've read,

and just immersing myself in the character as well,

that it was a pretty hair-raising achievement to be honest.

I think they probably got away with it by the skin of their teeth.

If the original climbers had made a mistake,

the consequences would have been fatal.

The story is that he had no protection whatsoever.

So if he fell, he was going to fall 300 or 400 feet into the sea.

There is no doubt that I'll have a lump in my throat as soon

as I go out across that drop, even with the safety rope.

Yeah I mean, even if the rope was a modern rope

and it was tensioned, like, really, really tight.

There is no way I would do that without a safety rope. I wouldn't even consider it.

But I think that puts it into perspective

because I am used to doing what these days is supposed to be

the hardest boulder routes around in the UK

where there's not much protection,

if you fall, then there's consequences.

I wouldn't even consider doing it.

We are just on the sea stack just at the top,

so with the wind, there is a chance that the rope could

slip down the top of the rubble at the top of the stack.

We just can't have that happening, obviously.

If it stops on the rubble, that's fine.

But if it goes further down the edge of the sea stack,

there would be serious consequences.

The original ascent of The Great Stack of Handa isn't simply

a tale of extraordinary bravery. It has worldwide significance.

This is the first recorded climb where the participants

undertook it primarily for pleasure. It's the birth of modern climbing.

Previously, it's been thought that rock-climbing

began in the English Lake District in 1886.

This isolated sea stack

and the three men from Nis and Lewis tell a different story.

Many would argue that modern climbing

began here ten years earlier, and is a Scottish invention.

It's a massive landmark. It really is the start of it.

It's the first time it's recorded recreational climbing,

moving around on cliffs in our country.

It pre-dates anything in the Lake District.

Rock-climbing started in Scotland.

All good things come out of Scotland, don't they?

I like the fact that people were climbing on the Outer Isles

and the Isles on the edge of the sea.

They were climbing for fun, and I think that's fantastic.

And just doing it for themselves, I think that's really good.

For centuries, people from the Western Isles

and St Kilda had climbed to collect eggs and birds for food.

It was an integral part of their life,

but during the latter part of the 19th century, these same people

started to climb for pleasure,

Donald Murray was also brought up in Nis,

a writer with a strong interest in its history.

The usual motive applies with any human endeavour.

Why do you do it? Because it's there.

And the Stack of Handa would have been a major challenge to them.

You know, these people would have looked at that and thought,

"I quite fancy attempting that."

There would have been the sheer pleasure of the climb,

almost the aesthetic pleasure of that.

But they would also have been very much aware that

there was food at the end of the rainbow.

Even though people were climbing for hundreds of years,

looking for birds' eggs, looking for birds, you know, farming the cliffs,

it definitely puts it a whole decade before everything else,

so that puts a little wry smile on my face.

And there we go, that's history.

Scotland is at the start of world rock-climbing.

I can understand from a historical point of view

that those farmers from Lewis would go climbing

to collect birds' eggs or birds as a matter of survival

that they had to collect food for their families.

I can understand taking really huge risks for that purpose.

But the fact that we know that they did these climbs,

and especially this one on Handa, for leisure reasons -

that amazes me. I am very impressed by it, as well!

We asked three of Scotland's best mountaineers to recreate

that original achievement. One of the world's best climbers,

Dave McCleod, is someone who has consistently pushed the limits

with a series of landmark first ascents,

many of which were highly dangerous.

He'll be Donald McDonald the lead climber,

who risked his life by being the first to cross to the stack.

I really don't want to fall,

but if I get one more hold I'll be all right.

Go for it!

I think Donald McDonald must have been a very, very competent man.

It sounds, from the accounts that we have heard,

that going climbing on the cliffs without a rope

was just something they did for fun in their spare time

as well as on top of the really hard outdoor life that they had,

trying to eek out a living farming in the Hebrides.

Accompanying him is Dave Cuthbertson,

one of the finest climbers Scotland has produced.

Cubby is an expert on both summer rock and winter ice.

He is Malcolm McDonald, no relation to the leader,

and the mastermind behind the expedition.

There has never been any doubt in my mind that the people

who climbed and made this crossing on Handa

were very, very proficient at climbing, very skilled.

They were professional climbers.

They climbed every day of their lives

as a source of livelihood so it's no surprise to me

that they had the skills to make such an audacious crossing

as the one that's been made from the mainland onto the stack.

The name of the third climber has been lost in the mists of history.

For our attempt on The Great Stack, we've enlisted the help

of another outstanding Scottish climber - Donald King.

It would be lovely to have some photographs of it

when it was first done, you know. Even one would be absolutely amazing

to see exactly what they looked like and how they rigged it.

It's Autumn. The nesting birds have left the island,

replaced by high winds and a sea swell, not ideal conditions

when we've only a week to discover

how the original climb was undertaken.

First across to Handa are two of the safety team.

They are immediately impressed by what they see.

So that's the gap, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a lot bigger than I expected.

You can see it's going to be a massive span to get across here.

-Huge.

-It's a long, long distance on this side.

I don't think that they would have done this

just to collect some eggs.

-There must have been a challenge for them to do it.

-An adventure.

An adventure. We are going to do this, you know, for another reason

other than just catching their eggs.

Because they could get eggs on these other cliffs.

They must have thought, we want to get onto the top of that stack.

And they wouldn't have known for sure that they could do it.

No, absolutely not.

If you fall, that's it you're in the sea,

and you'll not survive from that height and hitting the sea.

It's incredible.

They probably weren't interested in climbing just the cliffs here.

The idea of a summit and a pinnacle

that nobody else could get to

was a challenge for them, wasn't it?

-They wanted to get to the top of it.

-I think the eggs are coincidental.

Yeah, an excuse.

If you work it out, there's about ten people

who've been on top of that stack, maximum.

So, really, there's been less people on the top of there

than has been on the moon.

It's been well documented so they obviously did it,

but if somebody just said it was folklore I would have said,

"Yes, its folklore, they haven't really done it."

Because you wouldn't believe that sort of thing was possible then,

In fact, I'm beginning to wonder whether it is possible now!

Even with modern equipment!

Once the safety team are in place it's time for Dave, Cubby

and Donald to make the short crossing from the mainland.

It's the first time any of them have been to Handa,

and they're keen to get started.

Yes, this is very chilled out, it's brilliant.

-This is very tranquil, isn't it?

-Yeah!

Oh, look at this - a walkway! I feel like a real performer now!

Nothing else?

The climbers want to understand what motivated their predecessors,

to discover how they undertook the challenge and what it felt like.

This is a journey into the past.

OK, gents.

There are no photographs of the three men of Lewis,

so costume designer Jen Terranty has researched the clothing of the time.

So, what we've got from this period is we've got a sack suit,

something called a lounge suit

which is just a basic high-cut little jacket

made of a wool tweed called twill.

It would probably also have been something reused over time.

Underneath you would have had your, kind of, a union suit.

It's a combination of vest and pants

and it would be an all-in-one in a cotton or linen.

Over that you would have worn a linen shirt.

You kept it on all day long, all night long, slept in it

and it would have been appropriately stained.

-Quickly, Jen!

-Yeah!

Designed for freedom of movement.

It's a very simple, boxed, tunic-style

so you would have had lots of room in that.

That's a good fit. Thank you.

I feel as if I'm going to bed!

Right, boots and trousers off.

The trousers would have been the standard button-fly trousers.

There were no belts or belt loops worn at this period.

You would have had braces, which I've brought suspenders,

and they're buttoned from the inside, right?

And men wore them pretty high up around the navel.

The benefit of that is that your crotch inseam's

going to be cut really high.

It will give you much more movement than you probably would think.

-Actually, you're a bit taller. Maybe these will be better for you.

-OK.

I looked at those earlier and I thought they look massive.

How are those fitting?

This shirt has got so much more material around there.

Right, so shall we get some braces on you, then?

You look like you're going to a wedding or something!

Right, just tighten these up a bit.

Then the other part. Even though that's his work clothes,

you would have worn the waistcoat or what we call in America "the vest".

One for an extra layer of warmth, but also because it was just

considered improper to go out with just your work shirt on.

Your waistcoat's well smart. It's excellent.

It's warm. I mean, I'm surprised at how warm these trousers are

and the shirt's really nice and warm.

-Can't forget your neckerchiefs.

-Oh, yeah.

-They you are.

I used to wear one of these in the '80s!

It's all very comfortable wear, it's that sort of natural thing.

-This is your size.

-Nothing feels restrictive.

You couldn't actually say the same for some modern equipment.

And then the footwear. Now, I know in the research

they said that they wore a soft leather moccasin called the Rivelin.

But when talking to the curators at the National Museum of Scotland

they said those went out of favour

so they would have been in just old-fashioned work shoes.

But the actual climbing was done barefoot.

This is really comfortable, the clothing.

I think I could definitely climb very well in these.

It would be great. I could wear this all the time.

My best bit of kit this, my jacket. I'll be looking after this.

-That's a bit tight in the shoulders.

-A bit tight?

-For me, yeah.

-Good. That's how it should be.

I think I will actually struggle on the ropes.

I can't actually close my arms.

-It is strategically placed for the movement.

-Yeah.

Maybe they took the jacket off when they started climbing.

The research showed pretty much everyone wore the same style of hat,

which was a lovely little cap with a ball on top.

-That looks big for me.

-They're all one size. Fits all.

-Can I try that one?

-Yeah, of course you can.

This one might be....

It's marginally better that one actually.

-Sorry, Donald.

-No problems, no problems.

I think you'll enjoy being a little less bulked up.

I know you're probably wedded to your waterproofs and such.

You may find this a little bit more liberating.

-Yeah, thumbs up.

-Great. Definitely up an adventure in these.

Very comfortable to wear.

But there's more than the clothing to adjust to.

Jen's brought other essential bits of kit

including the item Donald and Cubby will use

when it's their turn to cross over to The Great Stack -

a breaches buoy.

-It is what the name suggests.

-Yeah, it's canvas breaches.

-They are actually breaches.

-Yeah, canvas breaches.

That looks very undignified to me! Right.

'We're going to be suspended below the rope.'

We won't be able to touch the rope.

We're in the hands of Dave pulling us across.

It's going to be hard work for Dave pulling us over

and we're just going to be suspended below this quite helplessly,

and it's going to be pretty exposed.

It's a massive nappy and, you know, if you were to try

and help yourself and put your hands above your head like that,

you would slip through the life ring and then get really loaded

on that kind of canvas nappy which would not be comfortable at all.

This is what I am most worried about us trying to do.

If the rope has that uphill, if it has a sag in it...

I need to assist, that's what you're saying?

-Yeah, I don't think I could heave you right across.

-No, you won't.

But I would have thought when they actually executed the crossing

they would actually have assisted.

-I think the person in the...

-In the buoy.

..in the breaches buoy would have assisted.

So we'd be pulling at the same time.

-So it would be like a kind of assisted hoist, really.

-Yeah.

I can see me getting to a point where the buoy touches the rock

-and I can't go further.

-Your legs!

-Dangling, yeah!

We think the Lewis men made several journeys to Handa,

deciding in the end to approach the stack from the headland

rather than the sea.

Everything they needed for their attempt

had to be brought with them. Even the journey over had its own danger.

There is a huge depth of water in the Atlantic,

and then it comes into two very narrow channels, you know,

the very top of the Minch between Durness in Sutherland

and Nis on Lewis. So they would have a great respect for the sea,

they would have been looking at its moods at all times

while undertaking these voyages.

They would have had an awareness of weather

that we would never have, we'd never possess.

I remember speaking to an old man in my village

who died in his 90s, and he actually said to me,

that he could tell if rain was coming by the way the grass turned.

So I think these kind of skills were very much part of their life.

They would have known the movement of the wind,

they would have known the movement of the waves.

They had much greater awareness than we possess nowadays.

I mean, we rely, of course, on the weather forecast

to tell us these things nowadays.

We know very little about the three men from Lewis.

The lead climber was Donald McDonald,

a young man of mix Norse and Gaelic stock.

The organiser of the expedition was Donald's neighbour,

but no relation, Malcolm McDonald,

a natural leader, he was then in his 50s.

Even less is known about the third member of the party,

but he must have had a common love of adventure.

They were men who loved a challenge,

who were not troubled by any kind of human isolation,

who enjoyed, in a sense, life at the edge on the periphery.

They were people who were extraordinarily resilient,

you know, very, very tough individuals,

very almost idiosyncratic individuals perhaps slightly different,

slightly unusual people who loved to face challenges.

They could be very rough, could be very pugnacious,

and their voices were strong.

Even in the Ceilidh House,

where there was, perhaps, a heated discussion

you'd imagine that they were talking in a force-eight gale.

They were just a different breed altogether.

In this village, for example - I'm in Port Uran -

all the men that I knew were, pretty well, all six-feet tall,

very strong Norse-looking people.

The men of Lewis and the men of the Western isles

who are going out onto the stacks

have been doing that since time immemorial.

They were not afraid of heights, they had no sense of vertigo.

When I think nowadays of where I have seen men walking,

it shows that they were made of a different calibre altogether.

Although one has to agree

that the feat at Handa

must have been one of the greatest.

It was certainly mentioned in my childhood.

There was a suggestion from my great-aunt that there was

a lot of competition, and sometimes agro, between the people of Lewis

and of Sutherland.

And the men of Lewis would have said...

"Beat that."

Today, climbers would make what's called a Tyrolean Traverse

in order to get over to The Great Stack.

In 1876, those techniques were undiscovered

so the three men from Lewis had to work out a system

that was entirely new. Literally, years ahead of their time,

they calculated 600 feet of rope was necessary.

The first climber to cross would do so by going hand over hand

and almost certainly in bare feet.

There was no specialist ropes then, so they had to improvise.

They used what came to hand - thick, heavy fishing rope.

-Both bags are rope.

-Two bags.

-Oh, heavy.

-Oh!

-Oh.

What?! Grappling hook.

Did they actually use a grappling hook, did they?

That's a pretty weighty piece of kit.

When you're used to climbing ropes

which are a fraction of that diameter, it's quite...

it's bulky, isn't it?

The main thing I am worried about is the friction

to actually climb hand over hand up this rope when it's going uphill,

and this stuff is actually quite smooth.

Yes, it's quite slippery, yeah.

I think if it's raining, it will be really difficult.

It's all unfolding, isn't it? Trying to put yourself in their shoes

and work out how they would have done it and how we would do it.

And I actually feel quite confident that the techniques that we use

will be similar to what they discovered themselves.

Do you want me to feed it out?

I'm just wondering if we should do, it might be easier that way.

Their skill level was totally different to ours

as modern-day climbers with our modern ropes, modern protection.

These guys came from the islands, very much used to handling ropes

and the maritime environments, so ropes, blocks and tackles.

And, of course, they were harvesting birds on cliffs every single day

of their life, probably, during the summer months.

How do we want to carry this?

Well, if we just coil it straight over one of us.

Why don't one of you coil it over me?

-We need to straighten this out.

-Yeah.

-That's going to take a few minutes.

'They were well versed in those techniques

'and really honed their skills at that, and I'm sure

'as modern climbers, mountaineers we've lost those skills.

'They've not been handed down or we don't know the skills

'that they had, and they were pretty formidable, obviously,

'to get onto the stack.'

-It feels heavier now.

-You've gone past the halfway mark.

I know! It was just exactly what I was just thinking myself.

How much rope's still in that bag?

Another 20-odd metres, I would imagine.

My arms are getting tired!

I think it would be easier if two of you split the rope between you

and move together with a loop of rope.

'I think they're a lot more advanced than we give them credit for

'cos you've got to remember that these people have been climbing

'for centuries.'

See, these guys would just be so adept at doing this.

-Oh, yes.

-You know, and they would know the easiest and quickest way

to coil these ropes, you know.

It's funny, I've spent half my life dealing with ropes,

but I am still not that good at coiling them.

Because we don't deal with, like, big, heavy, long ropes,

-They're all super light and small.

-Or these three-ply, as well.

-It just operates totally different.

-Yeah, the ropes just handle so well.

It's hard to gauge.

-Just keep going, it's fine.

-Keep going, yeah?

Handa is just over one square mile in size,

and is composed of Torridonian red sandstone.

It's owned by the Scourie Estate

and is a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve.

61 people lived here at the time of the 1841 census,

and the islanders lived on a diet of oats, fish and sea birds.

But just six or seven years after that census, the potato famine

caused everyone to leave.

It's amazing to think of the generations

who eked out a living here.

I know.

In certain times and conditions it was quite good,

but in other times it was desperate.

All that's left behind are the remains of their houses

and a graveyard.

-I don't know about you, but my shoulders are getting tired.

-Aye.

There's not much headland sticking out on this side at all.

I certainly don't want it to drop down the gap

at the back of the stack!

One of the major problems the climbers face

is where to secure the rope on either side of the headland.

On the original expedition, one end of the rope

was tied around a boulder.

But finding one capable of holding the weight isn't easy.

-That's a pebble, Dave!

-Yeah, I was going to say!

-I wouldn't want to go across from this side.

-No, not at all.

I think it's definitely got to be the other side!

Even here it looks quite...

I mean, they must have had the same discussion that we're having.

Where to start the anchor point so that the rope lies across the stack.

I think I would have been saying "Let's go home."

-There's no way you'd do this to harvest birds.

-No.

-They're doing it for the challenge.

-There's no need.

The other cliffs are here. It's such an awkward challenge to do.

They must have done it because they wanted to get on top of that stack

for its own sake.

Standing on the cliff edge, it's hard to understand

how those pioneers managed to get over to The Great Stack,

but they had the strong motivation that all climbers share.

'Doing first descents or climbing routes'

that have never been done before,

and especially on a cliff that has no routes on it whatsoever

'is a journey into the unknown.

'It is an extraordinary experience and it's pitting your skills

'against something that you don't know, from below,

'actually how hard it will be, how bold it's going to be.

'And it's a test of yourself,'

and in many ways you are trying to push yourself into that

little zone where you are technically going to be pushed, psychologically

you're going to be pushed, and find out how far you can take that.

'It's a big learning process and the end result is unknown.

'"Will I actually survive this, will I not?"

'It's a very basic instinct of trying something'

and seeing what you are made of when you actually get onto it.

So, what do you reckon, then?

Where's our direction of pull?

Watch we don't slip on the grass in these shoes, folks.

'I think they would have been learning these skills

'from the age of four or five onwards.'

As soon as some of them were able to walk,

they would have been up on cliff faces, you know, climbing rocks.

'Clearly, nowadays, we rely on technology.

'Even when you're climbing, you rely on having excellent equipment.

'They would not have had the same reliance on equipment.

'There would have been a much greater awareness of even looking

'at the stones themselves in order to find out and work out

'whether they had a secure footage or a foothold there or not.'

One of the hardest jobs for our climbers is to walk the rope

towards the cliff edge and pull it taut

so it will go over the stack.

There's one crucial difference between today's climbers

and their predecessors.

None of our team are prepared to attempt the crossing without

a safety rope. If they fall, the only casualty will be injured pride.

If those early pioneers fell, the result would be certain death.

-Dave?

-Yeah.

-Just watch the weight. OK?

-Yeah, sure, I'll be careful.

-I'll come and join you but there's a post here.

-Yeah.

'We are going to use the big, thick rope,

'and we are going to have a safety rope as a backup there.'

And for Donald McDonald, who did the first crossing,

to go across that on a single rope with not being attached to a rope

one single bit, he did climb for his life.

'That's overused now - you fought for your life and things like that,'

but he really did, and he only just made it.

And I definitely wouldn't be going across

without a safety or a backup, not at all.

This is definitely going to be the hardest part.

Just trying to get the rope to go down across the gap.

It's getting heavy as I pull it down

and it's getting harder and harder to flick it.

'Living in a society where we've got modern equipment

'that's fantastically strong, really efficient,

'we're well trained in using it.

'We are used to a high level of safety.'

Be careful, Dave.

'I think back then, rudimentary ropes, for me,'

my hackles go up and go "Oh, dear, that sounds horrendous."

But then, they are all probably fishermen, farmers

'used to pulling ropes, louping bits of rock around

'and they'd have been very, very strong guys.

'I think they were very, very bold.'

I look back and think I wouldn't do that with the knowledge I have now.

I wouldn't do it and wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

'But I think probably, for them, it was a real adventure, and something,

'a bit like doing any first ascent, is, "I wonder if we can do that."

'And that was probably right at the cusp of what is humanly possible.'

Guys, are you taking the rope all the way over?

-Maybe we'll walk a little bit more.

-OK.

Got a pull coming through. Glad I'm 40 feet away from the edge.

OK, we will take the rope in now.

OK.

Just watch unexpected tension doesn't come on.

-OK guys?

-Yeah.

With the sag in the rope going out nearly 200 feet there,

we're going to struggle getting it over the top of the stack

cos it's sagging 20 feet below the top of the stack.

Dave and Cubby are going probably 20 feet below the stack

on the other side, so that sag, if we don't keep it tight,

is going to possibly be 40 feet below the stack.

Do you want more tension or..?

-Just need to move back from this edge here.

-Yeah.

So you need to keep it tight and that's easier said than done.

Dave's getting tired pulling the rope tight.

I can't really do much on this side actually.

-Tug of war.

-You need someone on the middle of the stack.

Do you want me over on that side?

The climbers have now successfully strung the rope

between the two headlands, but they still have to get it onto the stack.

With his end of the rope secure, Donald joins Dave and Cubby

to help from the other side.

It's going to be a wee bit sketchy going around this bit again but...

I reckon two people for tension and one person to flick.

'These people were not foolhardy.

'Risk was something,

'Like all climbers and professional mountaineers

'is something that they would try very hard to maintain control of.'

And yet the challenge of crossing onto the Stack of Handa itself

presented obvious risks, the length of the rope out, the possibility

of the rope being cut, the way it would have to be anchored.

'And then, of course, the actual physical strength of having

'to cross the rope itself to get onto the stack,

'and would they have enough strength to actually make that crossing?'

I think we need to get over there.

Just get to the end there and then start flicking it.

'They would have evaluated that whole situation, and there is no doubt

'about it, they would have wanted to have kept risks to a minimum.

'Because one mistake there and it would have been, without doubt,'

instant death. I mean, it's 350, 400 feet above the sea.

So there is no room for mistake,

'so they were very well aware of the potential risks involved

'and I think that was all part of the challenge, to be quite honest.'

Finally Dave, Cubby and Donald have got the rope onto the stack,

but it's not in the right position.

It is lying lower down than they would like - a problem

which must have also faced the original climbers.

You know the story about Donald McDonald having this epic...

I suspect he wanted the rope in that little tiny corner,

-right there, because he knew he could just probably...

-Just step on.

-..step on.

-It is also a shorter distance.

Yeah, a good 25 feet, isn't it?

Whereas there, you are going to be suspended awkwardly, aren't you?

The climbers believe that,

when their rope is fully tensioned,

it will move further up onto the stack.

They have spent many hours on getting the rope into position

and it's time to finish for the day.

Now, the safety team move in.

They are fixing the additional safety rope to protect the climbers.

And bounce it.

Pull back... And once again, bounce.

That's it. That's it, I think.

Everything is now in place for Dave, Cubby and Donald

to attempt the crossing, but the weather has other ideas.

Lashing rain and strong winds make it too dangerous.

Next day, conditions improve.

They are still far from perfect, but time is running out,

so chief safety officer Brian Hall briefs the team.

This is going to have to be a big day today.

Because of the weather,

we didn't get as much done as we wanted to yesterday

and the weather forecast is pretty bad for tomorrow,

so we are going to try and do as much as we can.

But that doesn't mean to say we have to rush around. We have had a lot

of rain and the grass is really, really slick.

The team of three islanders have got these shoes on, these replica shoes,

which look great, but have got a really slick bottom.

And so, I think we really have to make sure that we don't

rush around or run around and just do things at a measured pace

and really just keep reminding each other.

And don't put any stress on a person - "Go there, quick!" or anything.

Just go there along the grass, make sure you have got good footing

and let's hope we have a great day.

Handa isn't going to give up this prize easily.

The weather is proving fickle, so Dave and Cubby retreat to the tent.

It's absolutely hammering it down outside.

If we were caught in one of these

during the crossing, we are going to get instantly soaked,

the rope's going to be soaking wet and slippy

and it's, basically, going to be really hard, so...

I have got a bit of apprehension right now.

Yeah, yeah, I am a little bit apprehensive.

I mean, these squalls are pretty strong.

And at the end of the day, we have to look after ourselves.

-We won't be able to speak to each other.

-No.

We are in the middle of September now, so maybe they might have been

blessed with a more windless day.

But still, the squalls are totally normal for this coast,

so it could well have been as bad as this.

But they would have been much more used to it than what we are!

Yeah, exactly. I think they were much hardier folk than what we are.

-Yeah, you are sort of feeling that right now.

-Especially with this kit.

-At least you can get prepped sat in a nice tent.

-Yes.

There is a break in the weather, so our team decide to go for it.

In a traverse like this,

a climber must rely on the strength in his arms and legs.

And the rain certainly hasn't helped.

It being wet will make it more difficult.

LAUGHTER

A little bit of rain to Donald McDonald won't cause any harm.

It's good trying.

LAUGHTER

I think this is when you realise that the rope is a little bit thinner

than you think, in terms of holding.

When we were carrying it in it, it felt firmer.

But now it's stretched, it's pulled all the fibres tight.

Now it's taut, it's lost a little bit of its purchase.

It's definitely more slick, so if it's really uphill,

we'll have to hold on pretty hard.

As Dave makes his final preparations,

he is aware that Donald McDonald almost ran out of energy

before reaching The Great Stack.

The key to success will be speed.

-OK, Dave. Yeah?

-Hope to see you again!

-Yeah! Take care.

-Have a nice time.

Thanks very much.

I'm not thinking anything.

I just want to do it, just want to get it done.

It's a time to switch off and go for it.

Oh, man. Going down a lot.

Can't imagine doing that without a safety. Fancy doing that, eh?

-I wouldn't like to.

-No danger.

-There is no room for any errors.

That's fine, that's fine.

'Anytime you do something like that, that is a little bit nerve-racking,

'the very best thing you can do, at the moment you set off,

'is not to think about anything at all.

Just think about the next hand movement, the next hand movement,

'until you get to the other side, so I didn't think about anything.'

'Doing it in bare feet didn't make a huge amount of difference.

'You didn't actually really use your feet or your ankles at all.

'I was most worried that I would scrape my ankles along the rope,'

'but in the end, because it was in such a V in the first half,

'you were upside down going down the way,

'and then, in the second half, you were going uphill,

'almost all on your arms.'

'So the best technique, that I made up very quickly,

'was to flip one leg and then the other, and almost use your whole leg

'to get as much of your leg on the rope as you possibly could,

'because if it was just on your ankle or your foot, it was too sharp

'and you couldn't really do much with it.'

'Once I got out in the middle and you get over that initial, kind of,

"What's this going to be like? Am I going to drop down 30 feet?

"Am I going to be able to hold on? Am I going to get really scared."

'Once I felt, "No, it's OK. I'm OK,

"I can make progress along the rope and it's fine",

'I looked down and take in the full drop,

'but I did that because I had the safety rope on.

'If I didn't have the safety rope on, I would be just like,

"Keep going, keep going, just look at the rope

"until you get to the other side."

You see that drop beneath you.

It's one thing looking across at the rope, but when you look down,

you look right down to the sea there,

-it's really whacky isn't it?

-Yeah, really.

Dave looks quite tired there. That's him just having a shake out.

'In the original crossing, the rope apparently slipped a bit

'and it would have dropped down a little bit and that jerk,

'if it didn't...if it wasn't even hard just to stay on,

'then it would have given you a real frightener.

'And without a safety rope, it would really'

put the fear in you, if you didn't have it already,

and you would be holding on way too hard,

using up all of your energy really quickly

'and you would be getting really, really tired.

'And you would be running out of strength,

'right where you needed it most, on the uphill part at the end.'

Dave is over halfway across. So far, he has been going downhill.

Now, he must haul himself upwards, all the way to the stack.

This is where it's going to get really hard, eh?

This is the bit where Donald McDonald really struggled,

because the incline now is extremely steep,

so it will be really interesting now

just to see how Dave copes with it, actually.

You are talking about the strongest climber in the UK at the moment.

-He is definitely slowing down a bit there.

-He is, yeah.

Taking smaller reaches.

And that transition,

from under the rope onto the stack, especially with those kind of blocks

-that are just perched there, it's going to be quite exciting.

-Yeah.

'All my weight was on my arms

'and my feet were doing nothing.

'And I can hold my bodyweight locked off on one arm, but only just.

'And I had to do about five moves like that,

'where my feet were doing nothing. If it had been another two or three,

'I would have run out of strength.

'needed to flip the rope over a big rock to get it into a position

where I could climb on and, as I did that,

'the rope did actually hit the rocks

'and dragged along the edge - a really sharp edge.

'And at that point, without the safety rope there,

'your heart would be in your mouth,

'because it's a really unpredictable moment.

'You don't know whether you are going to slide for three feet or 30 feet.

'I slid for two metres maybe and if it had been any more than that

'then I don't know if I could have stayed on.'

-Well done.

-Well done!

-Well done, Dave!

It will be a thumbs-up in a minute, when he turns round.

-Excellent.

-Well done!

-I'm glad we are not doing that.

LAUGHTER

Yeah, I'm quite happy not to be doing it!

With Dave successfully across, now it is Cubby and Donald's turn.

It's time to see if the breaches buoy will work.

'The breaches buoy has been talked about quite a lot

'and actually, I think everybody felt it was going to be

'the most undignified thing that anybody could...

'especially if you were a bit of a seasoned climber,

'but funnily enough, we never even'

tried the buoy on - or I didn't try the buoy on.

So when it came to the day, the first thing I discovered

was that I couldn't actually

'get it over my waist!

'I suddenly thought, "I've been eating too many steaks this week."

'It's one of those things.

'It's a... You put the buoy on and you sit in it

'and, all of a sudden, you are taken right back

'to a different period in time.

'So that was quite a strange experience, actually, and of course,

'not just for the climbers of Lewis and Handa,

'but in all walks of marine life.'

OK? Do you know, I think that's us.

'My character in the crossing of Handa

'is a slightly more mature personality,

'and I think was the instigator behind the whole challenge.'

Donald, have you got control of that?

I have got control, yeah.

'His job really is to find somebody who he thinks has got the strength

'of character, and the physical strength, to make this crossing.

'In some ways, it is quite fitting, really.

'I am a little bit older. We have got young Dave McCloud,

'who is taking on the role as the young Donald McDonald,'

and I am overseeing that he is doing it the best possible way.

So to go across in the breaches buoy,

'once Dave has got onto the stack safely,

some people might see it as being

'slightly undignified, to be sitting in a little basket,

'being pulled across on the line, but you know, hey, I've been there,

'I have got nothing to prove.

'I am quite happy to be pulled across, to be quite honest!'

OK!

'Once you actually get your feet at the top,

'onto the cliff top, it's fine.

'You just tiptoe up to the summit, don't you,

'as long as you're not pulled too much.

'Dave, who was pulling us across, if he does pull too much

'then you tend to get pulled into the rock.'

Can you go up on your knees and stand up?

Yeah. No, no, I'll just... That's it.

-Well done.

-Thanks.

-Good job.

Even with the protection of the safety rope,

it's a genuine challenge for Dave McCloud and the team.

They have the advantage of knowing it COULD be done,

they just had to work out how.

It was vastly different for the original climbers.

'You are heading into the unknown,

so there is always that added spice to it.

But it also gives you that added drive, I think, as well, and it

appears, for them, going out to get onto The Great Stack,

but part of it was the adventure,

because they could have collected sea birds from anywhere else

on the cliffs on Handa, but they wanted on The Great Stack,

so they wanted to do something special.

They didn't want to do what they were doing all the time in Lewis

and the other islands they visited. They wanted to do something special.

I think, for a lot of climbers that do first ascents,

it's the adventure, it's the unknown that drives them on.

It's not necessarily to make a name for yourself, but it's to have

a bit of challenge that gives you an extra incentive to do it.

Finally, it's Donald's turn to take the plunge.

HE LAUGHS

JOHN LYALL: If you are climbing frequently

to catch birds, as part of daily life, you also develop

a camaraderie between each other, to set challenges and follow them

and see if you can manage them.

And that has got to be part of what happened here between those men.

They shared an enjoyment of taking on that challenge and seeing

if they could do it. I'm sure they had a great time. I would think

it would be one of the most memorable experiences they've had.

-That was exciting.

-Yep, well done.

-It is the way you did it.

If in doubt - jump.

Yeah, you got a good bit of speed when you leapt off there.

I was impressed.

I was quite jealous that you got the first half of it done in about five seconds flat.

-I had to do all the hard work to get across that bit.

-Brilliant.

That went really smoothly. I don't think it involved

too much effort for Dave to pull us across.

And we are on the Stack of Handa.

All three of us on the Stack of Handa.

Success for Dave, Cubby and Donald after a week of work.

For the first time, almost 140 years after the event,

they have recreated the original expedition,

using, as near as possible, the equipment of the time,

but with modern safety techniques.

It's taken one of the world's best climbers to achieve it.

Obviously, if Donald

was to fall from his crossing, it would have been absolutely certain death.

'It's a really narrow channel.'

It's not as if you are going to fall straight into the sea,

but even if you did, from that height, you would certainly die,

so the consequences of a slip are completely certain.

We don't know what kind of weather conditions they had it in,

but I can imagine, with the weather we have right now,

my hands are numb just sitting here.

If they were hand-over-handing up a wet rope, can't feel your fingers

and potentially sliding back down it, you would need to use

every bit of strength that you had to make it.

A lot of rock climbers today would feel very out of their depth

in a situation such as the Stack of Handa, just the whole ambience.

It's very dramatic and quite imposing, actually.

No-one knows what the three men from Lewis did before heading back

over the chasm to the main island of Handa.

They probably collected some birds or eggs,

but as climbers, it's quite likely they did what climbers always do -

move on to the next challenge.

I will just move to the edge.

OK.

Right, a little bit of tension, please.

And naturally, Dave McCloud can't resist these cliff, either.

See you in a bit.

'If you have gone somewhere that nobody else has seen before,

'you have only seen it from one perspective.

'Now you can see the mainland. That's fine.

'Down below, you have got good rock, things that might be worth investigating.'

OK, I'll keep going down.

'To get to the stack, they are obviously adventurous guys

'and, therefore, why not look around all the other corners while you are there?

'So I think they potentially could have easily, very easily,'

used rope and got down to any point on the stack and climbed back up again.

Why not? It's not just the attaining the summit,

but part of adventure is the journey getting there.

So why not rope down a little bit,

climb back up and see what they can do?

OK, that's me down!

OK, well done!

'Our experience this week

'just further supports my belief that these people were climbers,

'very technical-orientated climbers. They would have to have been'

to organise and premeditate the whole trip to that crossing.

'They were professional climbers and, although they were

'not professional climbers through choice, I suspect,

'in the way that we are professional climbers, you can't help but think

'that they are going to develop a love

'for being in that environment in the way that we do.

'We love taking people into the mountains

'and teaching them how to climb and when we are not working,

we go off and do it ourselves, as well.

'So I don't see why it should be any different for these people.'

Well done.

-Good, good.

-Excellent.

-Good climb.

-Yeah, I believe you.

-It's quite a drop to the sea.

-Yeah.

Sorry, guys, I didn't find any birds.

-It's been a complete waste of time.

-It's been a waste of time.

LAUGHTER

But there is an unhappy twist to the story of the first ascent.

Eight years after the climb,

Malcolm McDonald, the mastermind behind the enterprise,

is said to have argued with the local minister.

He left Lewis with a friend and settled on the uninhabited island

of North Rhona, over 40 miles north, in the Atlantic.

A year later, both men were found dead.

As the first recorded ascent,

the remarkable achievement of the three men of Lewis

earns its place in the history books.

Scotland can claim to have invented modern climbing.

It absolutely wasn't an English invention.

It's well and truly Scottish. It started in the North West,

on some of the most interesting and exciting rocks in the UK,

yet we were at the forefront of world climbing.

It makes me feel very proud

of the idiocy of these guys who did it for recreation.

I just envy them that they were able to do it,

as I envy my father and his generation in this community here,

where they were able to undertake these climbs

and come away unscathed.

'Donald McDonald must have been a very, very competent man.

It sounds from the accounts that we have heard

that going climbing on the cliffs without a rope

was just something they did for fun.

We are obviously fascinated in their lifestyle.

It's interesting that they had that outlook that life was about -

at least partly about - enjoying themselves and having fun

and doing this feat of daring or adventure

or whatever you want to call it.

They have done this through enjoyment. They have come

along to make their mark, I suppose, as men.

Total respect.

It just leaves me with a great, sort of, thought

of a bygone civilisation, really,

a generation of people that there will never be again.

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