Hazel Findlay
WORDS WITH ONE OF THE BEST CLIMBERS IN THE WORLD
“I definitely don’t like thinking about life without rock climbing,” Findlay told interviewer Jude Spancken recently. “I hope I never have to experience that. It is definitely a huge part of me.” The following is an in-depth interview between Spancken and Findlay.
Was there a time when you were playing with the idea of a career in something else? You studied philosophy in University.
When I was younger yes. My mom was successful in her career and I did well at school. I always thought I should go to university and get a real job. The plan after my philosophy degree was to convert to law. But before my degree, I went travelling for a year and I climbed the whole year and I think it was during that year that I knew that I would never do a real job so I never did the conversion to law.
You decided at quite a young age not to take that path and just follow your heart and continue climbing?
I was really lucky to start climbing from a very young age, so it was easier for me to follow climbing as a career path because I got good early on. I think I would still follow an alternative life style even if I wasn’t a professional climber. I just value my freedom too much. There is just no way I would be in an office all day all year.
You describe yourself as not very light, considering your height, and not very strong, compared to other climbers climbing similar grades. Yet, you climb 5.14c, you have climbed…
Findlay on Le Pirate on Aiguille d’Argentière
…British E9 trad and you have freed several routes on El Cap in Yosemite. Is there something you can share with those who may feel like their height, gender or lack of strength may be holding them back?
I would say that some of the biggest limitations to performance are your psych. It’s about efficient movement and flexibility. Some climbers may boast that they can do five one-arm chin-ups with their middle finger, but I would say yes but when you climb, your hip is a metre out of the wall because you never stretch. Of course, then your fingers have to be 10 times stronger. How much stronger could you be if you could get your hips into the wall. I feel like that there are a lot of puzzle pieces that constitute to what makes a good climber and we focus on the ones that are easy for us to focus on instead of the ones that are maybe actually more important.
You have an impressive climbing résumé. Is it because you’re climbing year-round or because you focus on one project for a long time?
I think for somebody who climbs as much as I do, I think I spend a lot time going around just climbing and not actually doing anything that is actually that hard for me. I am notoriously bad at goal-setting. I tend to get motivated by a place or climbing with a certain person and sometimes that leads to doing something I am really proud of.
What is the longest you have invested in a climb?
The only kind of goal I’ve had and specifically trained for was Mind Control 5.14c at Oliana. I first tried the route before my shoulder operation when my shoulder was already bad and I loved the route. I knew that to get to that level I would have to train pretty hard and I would have to really look after my shoulder. It gave me this direction of focus for quite a while. After my shoulder operation I was in Spain for a few months trying it on and off and I was training for it. The cool thing about the process was that at the start of it (coming back from shoulder operation) I was a 5.13 climber, still struggling with my shoulder and at the end of it I was a 5.14c climber who had nothing wrong with my shoulder.
Right: Findlay and Ben O’Connor Croft racking up and approaching in the Alps
“I almost never think of what is expected of me. And my sponsors never direct what style of climbing I should do.”
Did that experience motivate you to get more into specific goal-setting?
It’s funny, I coach people and goal-setting is part of the content that I teach, so I’m always thinking I really need to get better at goal-setting myself. For example, I really wanted to do Freerider [IV 5.13a on El Cap] in a day (that was in 2017). I set that as my goal. Then I got to Yosemite and I suddenly really didn’t want to do Freerider in a day. I changed my goal and did Salathé, which is one of the coolest routes I have done and something I am really proud of but it wasn’t my plan at all.
Was your ascent of Once Upon a Time in the Southwest E9 at a turning point in your career?
Yes, I did that the first year I was a professional climber. I had already signed a deal with The North Face that year, which was in 2010. Then Reel Rock filmed me on the route in 2011 and it was that film did a lot for my climbing career.
Considering that you’re known for bold and scary routes, do you ever feel people have expectations of you?
I almost never think of what is expected of me. And my sponsors never direct what style of climbing I should do.
You’ve climbed all over the world, so does British trad climbing still have a special place in your heart?
Yes, it does. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with the U.K. There is definitely something about the climbing there that you just don’t have anywhere else. It has this unique style and history. But, then also there is a lot I dislike about the trad climbing. The rock could be better, bigger and more impressive. The strict onsight and no bolting ethics kind of drive me mad sometimes. You get to the top of this route and you have to lasso a sapling or a boulder and bring up your partner. Then spend 20 minutes walking off. I mean it is so nice that there are no bolts in the crags and the romance of it is kind of nice but also kind of really inefficient.
Back in 2012, you commented that you think that the no-bolt British trad ethic is holding British climbers back in their climbing. But would you be the climber you are today if it wasn’t for British trad?
My introduction to British trad climbing was not the norm. I was lucky that I was taught by my dad and my dad was basically saying that if you’re not falling off a route you’re not trying hard enough and you are not picking routes that are hard enough for you. Most people starting on British trad are being told that when you are falling you failed because you lost that onsight. I agree that I wouldn’t be the climber that I am today if I had grown up in Spain. If you start trad climbing in the U.K., then Yosemite or Indian Creek can feel like you’re sport climbing. These are places where cracks dominate the trad climbing experience. You are just throwing cams into the rock. Whereas if you are onsighting in the U.K. often you’re at the bottom and you are looking up and there are no pieces of gear or holds you can really see. You have to make those judgement calls as you go and ropework is really important and you are fiddling in tiny wires into horizontal slots. It’s just a completely different set of skills.
You started your coaching business a few years ago and your coaching focuses on the mental side of climbing. What triggered you to become a mind coach for climbers?
I’ve always been interested in the psychology of climbing, most specifically in how our psychology effects performance and what we can learn from going climbing. So, it is really like two sides of a coin. I read the book Rock Warriors Way by Arno Ilgner. That’s when I realized I could teach it. I’ve observed people really scared when they’re climbing. I observed a lot of people
2010: Sent Squamish testpiece 69, a 5.13b/c trad route near Murrin Park
2011: Visited Blow Me Down wall in Newfoundland with Mark Synnott, Alex Honnold, James Pearson
2012: First Ascent of Adder Crack 5.13a trad
2017: First ascent of Tainted Love, a one-pitch 5.13d trad route
stopping and saying “take” before they were actually climbing at their limit and really trying. Then I suffered an injury and had a lot of time off so I started studying.
In one of your articles on your blog, you discuss the importance of failure. Do you teach about fear in your coaching?
Yes, fear of failure is massive. So much of surface issues with people whittle down to fear of failure which sometimes whittles down to fear of what other people might think. I think that we hugely underplay the role that our perception of other people’s perception of us plays in our own psychologies. When you really start to look at how much whatever we do is influenced by the fear of what other people think it’s quite scary. It is something that is quite hard to come to terms with. But it is not like I encourage people to just go out and fail all the time and never succeed. It’s more about changing your conception of what failure actually is. So, while coaching, I try to get people to adopt a positive conception of failure.
Why do you think this “send” attitude is so engrained in our climbing culture?
Climbing really is the most goal-oriented sport when you think about it because there is nothing clearer cut then getting to the top of something. I actually think that competition climbing is probably the best when it comes to talking about this because a comp climber in training will create problems that brings weakness to the surface. There is just something about outdoor climbers that many seem to have this attitude of getting to the top is the goal and anything short of that is a failure.
We hear a lot about the flow state these days, which can be described as an “optimal state of consciousness where we can feel and perform our best.” I know that you teach about it, when did you learn about the flow state?
You hear people talk about it and intuitively you know what they mean. I started doing my mental training research and you don’t have to go very far before coming across flow. I read Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book called Flow and realized that this is something worth looking into. We all know what it feels like. It really is just like this subconscious but complete absorption in what you are doing when that thing is challenging and you are still seem to be doing everything right. You are just performing at your absolute best.
Have you learned to embrace being injured over the years?
For the majority of my climbing life, I had some sort of injury. I have learned a lot from those times I was injured and I tend to shift my focus until I’m healed.
Climbing is becoming increasingly popular. Where do you see your role as a professional climber in helping to shape the future of the sport?
That is a big question, but I do think that as a professional climber I have a responsibility to have a positive impact within the changing climbing culture and community. I think the biggest positive impact that I can have as a professional climber is to share all this psychological and well-being stuff that I am interested in. There is also this idea that I have all these people following me on social media and I feel my responsibility is to not to waste their time. Jude Spancken is a writer based in the U.K.