Putting a name to those who have scaled the Old Man of Hoy

Hundreds of people have made it to the top of the 137 metre-high (450ft) sea stack

The Old Man of Hoy has been a draw for climbers for decades since Chris Bonington scaled the sea stack in a live television broadcast in the late 60s.

Since then hundreds of people have made it to the top of the 137m high (450ft) stack, including eight-year-old Edward Mills, the youngest person to climb it, and Jesse Dufton, the first blind climber to lead an ascent.

Now the woman who looks after the museum dedicated to the Old Man wants to create a rollcall of everyone who has scaled it.

Rebecca Marr told the BBC: "I think it is a real achievement that people have done this."

Darren Lunn abseiling off the Old Man

This summer, the Old Man archive of newspaper clippings, photographs and postcards was relocated to Rackwick on the Orkney island of Hoy to be closer to the iconic red sandstone pillar.

Ms Marr said: "There's so much social history around the Old Man of Hoy. The whole BBC climb, it is so rich."

It was July 1967 when viewers of BBC One watched a landmark succession of programmes, which followed the climbing of the Old Man of Hoy.

Chris Bonington on the cliff top above the Old Man of Hoy in 1967

Chris Bonington and late Scottish climber Tom Patey had made the first ascent the year before and they were among those who took on the televised climb.

Sir Chris, who is now 89, told the BBC: "To actually manage to make the first ascent of it was something really special."

But he admits his most vivid memory of the climb was less enjoyable.

He recalls being on the receiving end of the defensive tactics of the nesting fulmar seabirds.

"You would get this horrible load of nauseating spit landing straight in your face," he says.

Sascha, Darren and Murilo at the top of the climb

Climber Sascha Kunze, from Sussex, also experienced the wrath of the fulmars.

"I just saw this red stuff flying towards me and I jerked back," he says.

The 41-year-old climbed the Old Man last month with friends Murilo Lessa and Darren Lunn.

He says there was some difficult climbing and very exposed sections where if you looked down "there was literally nothing under you for 60 metres".

"Then you are at the top, literally on top of the world, and that's a fantastic feeling," he says.

Darren Lunn on the climb

Darren described it as a "bucket list" thing to do while Murilo says "it's just one of those iconic things you want to do as a climber".

But the group misjudged how long it would take to do the climb and missed the last ferry off the island.

They were forced to sleep in a nearby bothy with dwindling food and water supplies.

Sascha says they started as "good friends and became great friends".

A page from a summit book, including Blue Peter presenter Richie Driss

Over recent years climbers have been able to record their ascent in a book left in a Tupperware box under a cairn on the summit of the Old Man.

But, as many of the books have unfortunately gone missing, the most recently completed journal will be displayed in a glass box.

The updated plan is to put all the names online and write a list on a depiction of the Old Man in the exhibition room at Rackwick.

However, more than 1,600 ascents of the Old Man have already been logged on the UK Climbing website and it is possible the actual number could far exceed that.

Chris Bonington climbing the Old Man of Hoy in 2014, to mark his 80th birthday

So Rebecca Marr admits she might not be able to create a large enough depiction of the Old Man to have all the names beside it.

Sir Chris returned to climb the sea stack on the year he celebrated his 80th birthday in 2014.

When asked if he plans to scale it again on his 90th birthday next year he says he has been considering it.

The 89-year-old usually marks his birthday by going on a climbing expedition with his half-brother.

But accepts that the celebration for his 90th is "going to have to be quite a bit more modest than the Old Man of Hoy".