Hazel Findlay: the climber

Tell us the main different types of climbing?

There’s bouldering, where you climb up boulders, don’t use ropes and have what we call crash pads to land on. Then there’s sport climbing where you climb in ‘pitches’, which is a rope length. On single pitch routes you climb one rope length then go back down; on multi-pitch routes you go up one, your partner follows you up and then you go up to the second, third, and so on. With sport climbing you use bolts already drilled into the rock and if you fall, you don’t usually fall far, which makes it fairly safe. And then there’s traditional or ‘trad’ climbing where there’s nothing already in the rock and you put in your supports – the things you jam into the rock – as you climb. That can be safe or dangerous depending on the terrain. I do a bit of everything.

How did you get into it?

My dad climbs. I started when I was seven when he would take me out on to the cliffs in Pembrokeshire in South Wales. I don’t remember the first time I tried but I think I took to it fairly quickly. While I’ve been climbing for almost 20 years it’s not like I’ve been excited to go climbing every single day: during my teenage years I had a phase of not really enjoying it and being a bit scared.

What was the first tumble you ever had?

I don’t know – some of my scariest moments have actually been scrambling around trying to get to the base of the cliff when I’m not even on the rope yet. You get a bit complacent and it’s easy to fall and bounce down a little bit. The worst injury I’ve had was on a route called Impact Day in the Lake District in England when I fell head-first for about 20m. I bruised my ribs and ended up with the rope round my neck – I was lucky not to strangle myself though I had some horrific rope burns. It didn’t put me off, though. I just waited for the wounds to heal and off I went climbing again.

Scary stuff…

The scary thing about climbing, and it’s something that really interests me, isn’t so much about the actual fall – it’s the apprehension. What’s scary is being above your last protection bolt and you feel really far above it. It’s that air beneath your feet that’s the scary bit.

Is it good to be afraid?

It can be healthy or unhealthy – something a lot of climbers need to work on is their fear response when it’s not really warranted because it can be really self-limiting. Fear is one of the things that makes climbing such a cool sport – that process of learning when to be frightened and when not to be.

Do climbers fall often?

You should be falling almost every time you go climbing – as long as you’re climbing pretty safe things. You have to fall constantly to remind yourself that your equipment is safe and will hold. If you don’t fall often, thoughts about whether or not you’re safe or not to start to creep in.

How do you earn a living out of it?

I have a lot of different means of income, one is through sponsorship from brands like Black Diamond, and I do speaking, coaching and filming, which don’t equate to much on their own but all add up.

What makes a good climber?

There are certain physical things like being light and strong and coordinated and flexible, but the interesting thing is that there are a lot of people who don’t conform to that but have still been really great climbers. Unlike a lot of sports where you’re told what to do and your motivation and training programme is provided for you, with a cliff you really have to do that stuff for yourself. A lot has to come from you so it requires a lot of self-analysis.

And what makes a good climb?

An aesthetically-pleasing rock is always good. No one has designed the rock, it’s just natural how it’s fallen, and there are certain ways it can form that can bring about really beautiful movements. You also get to see some amazing views when you get to the top in incredible places where not many people get to go.

You’ve climbed El Capitan, a sheer wall of rock in Yosemite National Park, three times. Was that your greatest achievement?

Two of the routes I did challenged me the most so in that sense they were probably some of my bigger achievements. The longest route took about a week to finish.

Does that mean going to sleep in one of those hanging tents stuck to the rock face?

Yes. They’re called portaledges and they’re actually really comfortable – it’s more like a hammock. I love that kind of thing – going to sleep all that way up in the air. If you’re scared of heights it’s probably not for you.

What are you scared of?

My biggest fear is fear of injury or getting hit by a rock. Apart from that I’m pretty scared of creepy crawlies.

Are you attracted to the idea of climbing buildings like Burj Khalifa in Dubai?

Yes, I think it’s cool. I’ve been to Dubai and yes, you do find yourself looking up and thinking, “that’d be a good one…” But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.

Finally, what’s your climbing dream?

I’d really love to climb somewhere far north like Greenland or Baffin Island because there’s no night time and you can climb for as long as you want, and then sleep and chill for as long as you want, and when you’re ready again you can just go climbing. And it’s so beautiful up there as well. www.hazelfindlayclimbing.com