St Kilda Climbing Adventure | First Ascents on the Edge of the World

[@muttiplay]

Robbie, another great film. You keep delivering interesting, different, unique adventurous climbing content, you deserve much more recognition. Keep up the awesome work!

[@RobbiePhillips]

Thanks man. Much appreciated :)

[@greigseavill629]

This is in my opinion the best climbing content on youtube. Proper inspiring.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Wow thanks man 🤩

[@callaperdrix]

I'd second that. Brilliant stuff 👍

[@jamiemcbarron]

A true Scottish adventure film . Well done mate amazing 👏

[@RobbiePhillips]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@joshgibson267]

I am absolutely psyched

[@paulgood1351]

Great film, I had the honour and privilege of crewing for Charles on Half Light getting her back from Norway for your expedition, fantastic yacht and incredible captain.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Hey Paul, thanks for doing that! Charles is a legend. I hope to be able to sail and adventure with him again soon

[@HippieDreamsWV]

A reason to get through the week, thanks Robbie!

[@princenabby1]

Adventure climbing at its finest, and major props for rescuing Charlie!

[@huginsamuelsen]

I do not understand why this channel doesnt have 2 million subs, I keep coming back to it!

[@dmcg7124]

Loved not a hope in hoy, this looks mega

[@nickbradbury1144]

worked in the pub in Tarbet when I was 18 and managed to get a boat road out to St Kilda one day, the 3 hour boat ride didn't go too well with a hangover haha. Absolutely amazing island, beautiful green grass and friendly locals that didn't mind getting close when you had lunch

[@antifascist7818]

Another excellent video by you, thanks. Cool droning music as well suited the atmosphere of the place. Awesome.

[@ABDILLASOUR]

The quality of these feel amazing

[@thehighlandhamster]

Beautifully filmed. Epic country.

[@tornagawn]

Just found this….epic stuff and much respect to all. And hi to Guy, Edinburgh flatmate late 80’s. As far as one could get from the Aberdeen sea cliffs.

[@Kraiklyn01]

What an incredible wee film! Looks like an awesome trip!

[@balke7935]

Brilliant! You left behind the tag ‘vlogger’ a long time ago… this is the best climbing film I’ve seen for years!

[@RobbiePhillips]

haha thanks! That's high praise :) I much prefer this sort of style. I think this was always me and I'm glad to be making adventure films like these

[@boblicznerski9767]

An exceptional film, well pulled together bringing the context of isolation, adventure sailing and big walls together with the actual exploration of new routing. Well done Robbie and team (and of course pigeon)....

[@RobbiePhillips]

Big praise Bob! 🙌 thanks a lot man. Charlie sends his thanks too 🐦

[@alistairmcgregor8820]

Not sure how these guys can do this...amazing.

[@andreasanderssonulander6376]

Nice Grant! Lovely to see you climbat bohus my friend, soon I'm getting to taste that great place as well. Best wishes Andreas

[@cellometal3]

Amazing video. Inspiring to go get on a boat and find some cliff

[@richardbradley1532]

That certainly looks fun.

[@mrthirty1139]

Your best film yet Robbie, amazing! The monologues really brought it together, what an intro

[@RobbiePhillips]

Thanks a lot man! Haha I still think "Stacked" is my favourite film personally :P But St Kilda is a very special sort of adventure and far more out there!

[@jpModus]

This is so well done! I'm floored by the way you were able to capture the scenery and tell a story throughout the entire film. This is truly great, thank you for putting this together and sharing it!!!

[@RobbiePhillips]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@Hacky87]

realy nice film!! great work

[@michaelreed5596]

Great video Rob, best yet imo. cheers.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Man that’s really cool to hear :) glad you’re enjoying them

[@Me1234utube]

Beautiful looking sailing boat, as well as climbing lines. Great video

[@RedHornSSS]

definitely breathtaking landscapes!

[@DBez-ty8yt]

Nice dude! I am watching too, all the way from Namibia. Great footage, awesome sense of humour & like the mop....I mean doggo. 🤣

[@RobbiePhillips]

Oh wow! I was in ZA in 2018 and we almost went to namibia. Heard the big domes there are incredible to climb

[@HarryFlashmanVC]

Charles is some small craft seaman, that pick up from Dun was insane

[@ilvonful]

One of the best adventure climbers period.

[@davidsimpson3885]

just got to find a friend with a boat in scotland willing to take us on adventures, and I live in Germany so the plane ride or long arsed drive are unavoidable if going back up to scotland, but went to scotland in may and got to say, best climbing Trip me and the missus have done up to date, but would love to climb on the isle at some point in the Future.

[@aarondgallegos]

PSYCHED to see another video from you!! Thank you for putting the time and effort into these, they're so awesome!!

[@RobbiePhillips]

It was a pleasure

[@andreaslafollette426]

Your the most underrated climber ever! Love your content! So much adventure!

[@RobbiePhillips]

Thanks man! 😊 More adventures to come soon

[@martinofinotelli1884]

Robbie, this one was really amazing. Living in southern Europe I have just been in the Northern Highlands for the first time last May.... and so much more to see! Definitely too much for a lifetime :D Keep up the good work!

[@RobbiePhillips]

Oh man you have to come back soon then. This May was really special too - brilliant weather aye!

[@ollygibb8501]

Thanks for another ace video Robbie, hope summer projects are going well!

[@davidrippin9222]

This is just superb. Thanks Robbie!

[@weekendbikingwarrior360]

what. a. film. Brilliant. thank you so much.

[@MovementForBJJ]

That was great, thanks very much Robbie. Just need to learn to sail…and climb, now…👍

[@RobbiePhillips]

You can do it! That’s what these films ar about - hope you get to have some cool adventures soon

[@sarahinscotland]

I’m not a climber..it gives me the fear! But I love they way you piece together the story, film the beautiful places including details. It almost felt like I was there. St Kilda is on my “someday list” now!

[@RobbiePhillips]

Thanks very much! I hope you do get to visit - it’s a wonderful place with a truly ancient and mystical aura to it.

[@DizzyVizion]

Wow! That was awesome! 😃

[@RobbiePhillips]

🤩

[@andrewogilvie7040]

Great stuff guys. Thanks.

[@laku4412]

Absolutely amazing! Looks like a proper dream of a trip! Thanks for the beautiful video (and saving a poor pidgeon along the way) :)

[@RobbiePhillips]

Haha thanks dude! Happy to say Charlie is doing well now 🐦

[@ianfu9002]

absolutely stunning, amazing video

[@jameslincoln1]

Brilliant film. Just what's needed to stoke the psych on a wet week

[@JorgePacker]

Loads of adventure in your last videos!! Loving it! Keep it up!

[@sean6387]

Fantastic adventure guys, and the filming and editing are incredible too, but it was the pigeon-interest story that kept me in my comfy armchair to the very end.

[@RobbiePhillips]

What’s a climbing film without a good bird themed side quest thrown in 🤪

[@pdude1911]

Great film, salute from HOLLAND!

[@marcushill78]

Thanks for sharing your amazing adventure. I'm very impressed with the onsight attempts at some very serious climbs.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Cheers Marcus! In all honesty, the climbs weren’t too serious. They were fairly well protected with a few exceptions to certain sections… the start of “The Last Queen of Scotland” was a bit wiggy leaving the belay and it was very wet and slippery on the rock low down due to the sea spray. The main risk was the level of commitment of these climbs… just the knowledge that if anything does go wrong there’s no help coming haha

[@jamoni082]

What a cool film, thanks for sharing

[@middle-agedclimber]

Amazing adventure, those cliffs look simply incredible.

[@jesbates8611]

Awesome stuff, real adventure

[@chriswyatt66]

Great photography and story. Respect for the technicalities as well (sailing and climbing)

[@Andyg961]

Im happy you made it happen Robbie! Awesome Film! Judging by the swell, engine power might have been a wiser choice compared to kayaking haha, at least for those days! ;) 18:53 top out looks so class!

[@RobbiePhillips]

Haha! Actually that was last years trip. The kayak idea was for this year as I wasn’t certain I could wangle another boat. But good news… I have! Going back in September :) Some bigger objectives planned. And yeah, the topout on Dun was stunning. In fact that whole day on Dun was perhaps the most fun day climbing of my life - everything from the access to the incredible crack pitches and amazing weather to abseiling off the cliff back into the boat at the end 🤣

[@Andyg961]

@@RobbiePhillips haha i seeee, thought it was a very quick production time! Exciting news, fingers crossed for the weather window!

[@merchymerchable]

What an adventure fellas. Epic film, so glad I stumbled upon it!

[@nicolabukowski7156]

Awesome mate.

[@ontheballcity71]

Sweet. I tried to scuba dive St Kilda a couple of years ago, but Covid got in the way.

[@mathiasvollmann2405]

Lovely! 😊

[@Klenaghen1]

Another cracking film dude! Looking forward to the next one 💪🏼

[@RobbiePhillips]

More to come! 😁

[@ozzy9708]

This is brilliant. What a place.

[@tombriggs-hx2gm]

Great. Proper adventure climbing.

[@climb.boulder.mountain]

Dude this is so well filmed and the production quality is outstanding. Would love to have seen this on a big screen. Could've watched that crack pitch being climbed uncut.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Thanks man! I was considering showing an edited version of this film for future speaking tours :) could be cool to see that climb on the big screen!

[@euanhamilton-rigg]

Stunning!

[@neiltmorrison7310]

Excellent 👍

[@lukesonnenburg5006]

Amazantasticking!

[@andrewrhodes1173]

As a boulderer your vids always get me psyched to wanna try trad

[@RobbiePhillips]

Oh man that’s high praise coming from a boulderer

[@hughoreillyy]

@@RobbiePhillips Have to agree! It really makes me want to try trad / adventure climbing even though Im just a wee indoor boulderer 😂

[@RobbiePhillips]

​@@hughoreillyy That's brilliant to hear :) Climbing is all the same thing in the end, it's just where we're doing it. You should definitely try trad and see where it takes you

[@mw5360]

This is bloody good, man. Just fantastic everything about it.

[@paulgranada7203]

Wow!! Amazing place, amazing video, thanks! 😊

[@eclipsearchery9387]

Excellent video/film there.....as you say the Western Isles are very special and boats are the best way to explore the more remote areas. Well done on the new routes, the quality looked to be right up there :)

[@RoadtoV11]

Super inspiring film! I would like to see more like this 👌👌👌

[@RobbiePhillips]

Thanks man! Good news… got more in the pipeline just like this 👍

[@kevedwards]

As a sport climbing meff I don’t usually find much interest in trad movies but yours are always great to watch and super inspiring, not inspiring enough to make me want to trad climb but inspiring nonetheless 😂. Keep them coming dude.

[@peterditchfield6802]

Brilliant😀

[@sethford2227]

Sick video

[@pdebra6542]

Fantastic adventure!

[@hj40]

what an adventure !!!!!!!

[@jonathandeleyser1782]

Epic.

[@kevindawson9270]

Jamming on gabbro!? Have you got any skin left on your knuckles? Great film.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Haha yeah it’s pretty gnarly. More gabbro jamming to come in an upcoming film aboit first Ascenting on Skye

[@kevindawson9270]

@@RobbiePhillips You're a brave man. I did a traverse of the Cuillin Ridge a few years so. Easy climbing along the way, but the first day was damp and the rock split all eight pads on my fingers and trashed a pair of synthetic boots. THE most abrasive rock I've ever been on.

[@sobyeski]

".... next week on Robbie Philips, Animal Rescue, the team domesticate a Scottish wildcat whilst on the 3rd pitch of a slabby E7"

[@RobbiePhillips]

Best comment ever!!!

[@joetriccas]

@WideBoyz there's some awesome new crack routes in the UK ;)

[@RobbiePhillips]

I’ve been finding a surprising number of excellent cracks recently

[@joetriccas]

@@RobbiePhillips Good man. Pics or it didn't happen ;)

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

For a related vibe search “Trevor Morrison - Hirta - The Lost Songs of St Kilda (piano)” the story behind is quite fascinating.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Yeah!!! I read about this recently. Fascinating.

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@RobbiePhillips it’s like music out of the well of time somehow ☺

[@joetriccas]

Missed the premiere but let's go!!!

[@joetriccas]

Straight off the bat amazing production quality wowza. Surely this could sell to national geo or something?

[@RobbiePhillips]

Awww shucks! Haha

[@ErikReimers]

Did the pigeon make it safely to it's home? :O

[@RobbiePhillips]

Did you not watch all the way to the end?

[@ErikReimers]

@@RobbiePhillips I have now!!

[@SEMIGingerNinja]

Think you could rope the pigeon in for a belay?

[@johnm9709]

Great film and amazing places. It's probably stating the obvious but sea birds are not just a minor inconvenience for climbers but incredible and beautiful creatures with rich and complex lives that are under terrible threat from climate change, over-fishing, plastic and so much more. It should be made clear that any exploration and climbing must not be done while the nests are still occupied. Human intrusion into one more aspect of their precarious lives is the last thing they need. Thankfully it looks as if the chicks have fledged and the nests have been vacated here.

[@RobbiePhillips]

Absolutely. We actually collaborated with the NTS whilst we were there on st kilda. We purposefully went after nesting season and helped in gathering intel when we came across dead birds as Avian flu last year was particularly bad

[@avandras]

Great little film! The rope at 27:00 is somewhat hairy though :)

[@RobbiePhillips]

It’s something I’ve noticed with the aramid woven sheathes of the “protect line” Edelrid ropes. Doesn’t change the handling or durability and the extra cut resistance they have has made them my rope of choice for many of my more wild trad adventures.

[@chri_me]

I was just thinking like: Wow, that's a lot of Chalk for such a remote place until Robbie mentioned it was Birdshit

[@RobbiePhillips]

Awwww yeah!!!! Like that scene in jurrasic park… “that is one big pile of shit!” 💩 It’s probably hundreds of years of birds shitting on the same ledges piling up. I do wonder how much they clean after a winter? Some of these spots don’t really get much rain

[@logtothebase2]

Blimey!

[@williambell8282]

You will know of course, that the men of St Kilda had climbed the stacks to collect the 'guga' every year...No safety gear

[@RobbiePhillips]

Yeah! Very impressive. Quite keen to go back and attempt those stacks actually

[@dvmir917]

What music do you use for your videos? Really good choice!

[@RobbiePhillips]

I use a service called Artlist. I have a subscription to them so I can use any of the copyrighted music they have. I do spend a lot of time sifting through their library trying to find the right mood and feel :)

[@gordongecko367]

How did you guys manage to capture the pigeon..? haha

[@RobbiePhillips]

We didn’t capture it exactly. The bird landed in st kilda a week before us and was hanging outside the NTS bird wardens cottage. He was feeding it seed and it just kinda of stayed there (refused to fly). Charlie was quite easy to handle and wasn’t scared of humans.

[@gordongecko367]

@@RobbiePhillips not quite the wild pigeon chase I had in mind 😅 Loved the film Robbie, will be sure to come say hi next time I see you in Ratho 💪

[@RobbiePhillips]

@@gordongecko367 Please do :)

[@kieran1289]

I love BBC. Big Black Cliffs

[@ginnypeckham4022]

In your description you say that more people have reached the top of Mt Everest than climbed in St Kilda. Of course the inhabitants who lived there for thousands of years survived by climbing these cliffs to catch seabirds and collect their eggs with none of your modern equipment. They were the true experts of these cliffs.

[@bendtbendt1]

Quality

[@camkay3633]

😮😮

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

I actually thought access to st. Kilda was pretty restricted.

[@RobbiePhillips]

It’s managed, not restricted.

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@RobbiePhillips Right. I was checking it out some years ago considering a spearfishing expidition, but then it seemed like it was only open to the public in a very limited manner and time period, and some other projects maybe research etc were the only ones to access for most of the rest of the year. Awesome place. To think of the lives lived there and their ultimate evacuation …

[@RobbiePhillips]

@@whynottalklikeapirat there is limitations to what you can do there, but I think being open and honest with the NTS about your plans is the best way forward. We had certain limitations to what we could do and worked around that :)

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@RobbiePhillips Sounds quite reasonable. It sure made for an awesome video. I was really thrilled to see a closeup of the conditions on the steep side. I sometimes go to quite desolate places and there is a certain vibe to that which is both scary and strangely energizing and kinda otherworldly. I imagine that must have been particularly strong out there. It seems to somehow emanate tfrom most videos I’ve seen from there.. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it’s been pretty mindblowing for me in even less remote places. Well done pulling it off👍

[@RobbiePhillips]

@@whynottalklikeapirat otherworldly is anoter good descriptive word for it... I think I kept saying "mystical" in the video :P but yeah, St Kilda has an aura I've never felt anywhere else to be honest. It may have come partly from the knowledge I have of the history of the place, but maybe also because of the remoteness. It's certainly a very unique place and has a unique feel to it... I cant wait to go back in September!

[@smif5867]

Dude where u at???? We need u and the skinny Irish dude back. Climbing films ain't funny no more. U guys was class pro and the average worked dude. Hope your well.x

[@JesperMilling]

would have been interesting if these climbers had something interesting to tell and show about the climbing that the former inhabitants did to make a living for hundreds of years. All sports have roots in activities intended to provide a living, but these guys, dont have a clew.

[@RobbiePhillips]

You've no idea mate hahaha That was our first trip to check the place out... I went back and retraced the steps of the St Kildans, making the first repeat in 140 years of one of their hardest climbs "The Thumb" on Stac Briorach, an account of which I found written in Martin Martins 1697 book on St Kilda. We collaborated with the NTS and there is numerous articles online about this and a film in the making. So I think I do have a clue.

[@williambell8282]

'like literally' I don't need to comment further

[@bwolfe8516]

they took off in that dinghy with no life jackets........not serious competent people

[@janach1305]

For God’s sake, leave St Kilda alone! Can’t any place on this planet be free of “adventurers” searching for some meaningless record to break?