Climbing with the planet’s only professional ‘sea stacker’

Iain Miller has traveled the world several times over, sailed on more than a dozen vessels, and visited hundreds of countries to realize he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be: Guiding adventurous individuals of all ages across the mountains and sea stacks of Donegal, Ireland.

“I do not go away anywhere on holiday as I live in a place where everything I need is around me,” he said.  But, what exactly does it mean to be a professional sea stacker?

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What Is Sea Stacking?

What exactly is sea stack climbing? Sea stack climbing means scaling tall rock towers that rise out of the ocean. The sport often entails kayaking, swimming, rock climbing, abseiling, and Tyrolean traverses between the peaks of the sea stack or from the mainland to the stack and back. Miller founded his sea stack climbing business, Unique Ascent, to share his love of nature with others – a mix of tourists and locals who want to experience and appreciate the breathtakingly beautiful mountains of Donegal in an unusual way. Miller actually offers a range of activities, including full sea stack and Tyrolean traverse climbing experiences, introduction to rock-climbing classes, hillwalking, and more. Participants can range from 5 years old up to 76, as long as they are in generally good health and can manage the activities. When many people his age (55) are planning moves and stressing about (or eagerly awaiting) retirement, Miller plans “to continue having as much fun as possible outside in nature.”

Miller considers the business his retirement after serving 25 years as a ship’s engineer. “I have made a lifestyle business out of my favorite activity,” he said. “What I have essentially done is successfully monetize my hobby.”

He doesn’t see himself ever hanging up his climbing gear, but when he does, the business will likely fold, too. He explained, “My unique selling point is so strong that it is close to being a personal brand. Once you establish a personal brand, you must remain a sole trader or you can dilute your uniqueness by imitation.”

He added, “A question I get asked a lot is ‘What is your favorite climb?’ My answer is always ‘The next one.’ I’ll be done when I climb my favorite climb.”

Miller made headlines years ago for taking his then-5-year-old son Luke to the top of a sea stack. “As the footage went around most Irish and European news agencies and websites, around 70% of the comments were along the lines of ‘This is what we should be doing with our children,’ and the remaining 30% of comments called for me to be jailed,” Miller said in a 2020 interview with Forbes.

The result? Miller reported at the time that it was “an outstanding experience with Luke,” and that his son told his teacher he wanted to become a rock climber.

Learning the Ropes

Compared to his son, Miller got a late start sea stack climbing. “I began hillwalking, usually alone, when I was 17 years old. After a few years, the hillwalking became steeper and steeper,” he told Nifty50. “It was then that I started to think that a rope would be a good idea.”

He found a book in the library and taught himself the necessary skills to climb the sea stacks in the Orkney Isles, Scotland, where he lived at the time. Since this was prior to the Internet, Miller had no idea that it wasn’t a good idea to climb alone. In 2005, Miller began to free solo sea stacks in Donegal and record the sea cliff climbs. From those excursions, he created sea stack and sea cliff guides that he shared on his website, which launched roughly 15 years ago. “Those climbs, and the PDFs, are the foundations of my business,” he said.

Since then, he has made the first ascents of more than 50 sea stacks and climbed roughly 180 new routes, according to an interview with RedBull.com. “Standing on a pinpoint summit over 100m above the ocean, a pristine place far from anywhere, is actually quite a spiritual experience,” he said in the article.

With Age Comes Wisdom

Miller admitted he still climbs alone sometimes. But, more often, he’s working to share his passion with others. “I can plan days out that are very exciting and interesting for both my clients and I. For example, we may climb a new route to the top of a sea stack or up a sea cliff. This is exactly the activity I do when I am out climbing alone or with friends,” he said.

The skills and experience he’s gained over nearly 40 years of sea stack climbing have led him to become “the world’s only professional sea stack climber,” guiding other adventurers on journeys across Ireland’s picturesque – yet unpredictable – seascape.

“The ocean is a cunning beast, which plays by its own guidelines,” he said. “It is only after watching the weather for decades that you begin to understand the ocean a little bit. It is my years of experience in this job that enables me to plan, change, and cancel each day based on instinct.”

These skills have helped him build a successful second career after retirement. “I have taken a very niche aspect of outdoor rock climbing, specifically sea stack climbing, and created a globally unique business,” he said. “The main key to success has been having a solid foundation and a very high skill set in the activities I provide.”

Would Unique Ascent have been as successful if Miller had launched the adventure business in his 20s or early 30s? Possibly not.

“I am now in my mid-fifties, and it took me over four decades of life experiences to gain the correct knowledge to achieve this,” he said. “I think one age-based skill that stands out is your ability to instantly read people and situations. This is a skill that only gets better the older you get, and this is particularly so in people who have lived varied lives.”

Are you doing something inspiring? Do you know someone who is pursuing a passion even in their older years? If you or someone you know is 50 years old or older and should have their inspiring story told, please email the editors at Nifty 50+