The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Hazel Findlay: The Climb Within
Birnam Arts, September 25
One of the world’s best free climbers, Hazel Findlay has a fearless approach to her passion that she’s keen to share.
The Pembrokeshire-raised athlete’s skills were honed as a child using ropes on limestone sea cliffs under the guidance of her climber father Steve, helping her to six British indoor titles before deciding at 16 to focus on traditional rock climbing.
A 2011 ascent of Dyer’s Lookout in Devon made Hazel the first British woman to scale an E9-graded route – among the most technically challenging – and her other feats include four free climbs on Yosemite’s imposing El Capitan.
Now 29, the global traveller visited Mongolia and South Korea earlier this year to map out new climbing routes, and her Perthshire talk comes just days after running a female climbers’ coaching camp in Sardinia.
“I just have a look at the map and think about where I want to go – where there happen to be rocks,” says 5ft 2in Hazel.
“There are always challenges when developing areas, especially when there’s no history of climbing to build from. In Mongolia we had a hard time knowing which rocks we could climb on and which ones were sacred.”
Hazel started public speaking in 2010 and the theme of her debut UK tour is climbing’s mental challenge and managing fear. However, she admits addressing a crowd of strangers can be daunting. “I’m much more comfortable on a rock face than I am in front of a big crowd of people,” she says.
“I climb five times a week whereas I speak around that many times per year. I feel confident on the rock because the rock doesn’t judge you whereas people do!”
The philosophy graduate says her studies have helped to inform the nature of her inspiring talks, which are popular with climbers and non-climbers alike. “I studied a lot of philosophy of psychology and mind,” she adds. “Moreover, I think my own interest and love for philosophy has shaped my coaching style and has made my coaching more holistic and wellbeing-orientated instead of only results-orientated.
“I started coaching non-climbers this year to help them with performance at work. Everything I’ve learned from climbing about how to manage my fears and perform under pressure is transferable to anything you want to do.”
Hazel says she hopes to continue to challenge herself as a climber, while restating her view that life is about more than one pursuit. “I have some routes in climbing that I really want to do and I do want to try to climb at a harder level,” she says. “There are also certain places I want to see. I also have ambitions in my coaching and other areas of my life, so it’s a balancing act.”