Home to hardcore monks

Ella Morton has a Slate article about monks in Ireland:

The dozen monks who sequestered themselves on the rocky island of Skellig Michael in the seventh century were a hardy lot. Skellig Michael— skellig, derived from the Irish word sceillic, means steep rock— lies eight miles from the coast of County Kerry. It is beset by wind and rain, which make the ascent to its seven-hundred-foot-high peak extra treacherous.
Despite these conditions, a group of determined Irish Christians established a monastic outpost on the island that remains largely intact fourteen hundred years later. Using stones, the monks built hundreds of stairs leading up to Skellig Michael's summit, where they erected six beehive-shaped stone huts (photo) and a small chapel.
Surviving on a diet of fish, seabirds, and vegetables grown in the monastery garden, monks occupied Skellig Michael continuously until the late twelfth century, when a worsening climate and more frequent storms sent them back to the mainland. The settlement survived multiple Viking raids, the reason for the remote location of the monastery, during the ninth century.
Climbing the six-hundred-plus steep, uneven steps to the top presents both a physical and mental challenge, but crowds of puffins and other seabirds are there to cheer you on. At the summit you can enter the monastic huts and imagine the grueling life of a seventh-century ascetic.

Rico says he'll pass; he doesn't do ascetic well...