BURSTHazel Findlay started climbing at the age of six on the sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire, Wales, with her father, climber Steve Findlay. She became a six-time national climbing champion before leaving comp climbing to focus on trad. She graduated from the University of Bristol, where she studied philosophy, and settled in North Wales.
In June 2011, Findlay became the first British woman to climb an E9 when she sent Once Upon a Time in the South West at Dyer’s Lookout in Devon. She went on to achieve first female ascents of several hard lines in Britain and abroad, including San Simeon E8 in Pembrokeshire, Chicama (E9 6c) on Anglesey and Air Sweden 5.13b R in Utah.
In Yosemite, she became the first British woman to free El Capitán, completing Golden Gate in 2011, Pre-Muir Wall in 2012, Freerider in 2013 and the Salathé Wall in 2017. In November 2019, she made the third ascent of Magic Line 5.14c at Vernal Fall. Her ascent was also the first female ascent of the route. In 2012, she opened Adder Crack 5.13a and Tainted Love 5.13d in Squamish, and in 2022, she partnered with Alex Honnold to make the first free ascent of Ingmikortilaq, a 3,750-foot wall in Greenland.
In 2014, she climbed Fish Eye 5.14b in Oliana, Spain, achieving the highest grade reached by a British female climber at the time. She later climbed Mind Control 5.14b in 2017, and Esclatamasters 5.14d in Catalonia in 2022. For more sends by Findlay visit here.
Findlay is featured in a new short film called The New Normal, which is described as: “A story about returning to climbing after childbirth, adapting to a changing body and figuring out how motherhood fits alongside a passion for pushing oneself in climbing. It’s not about ‘getting back’ to where you were, but discovering what climbing and life look like now that everything has changed.”
The New Normal
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