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FEATURE
is heaven for Australian outdoor
lead climbers. “I live just minutes
away from some of our best
outdoor climbing, so the obvious
choice for my weekend climbing
would have to be the climbing
down the road. When I’m looking
to change things up, or it gets too
cold in the mountains, a trip down
to Nowra is always on the cards.
The climbing there is uniquely
different from anything you find in
my backyard, with short, powerful
climbs,” says Angie.When most people are climbing,
many things go through their head
and there can be a battle between
what they are thinking and feeling.
Angie tells us that when she
climbs, she feels different things at
different points. “When I get a good
hold that I can rest on, after some
serious hard climbing, my body
relaxes, and I feel a sense of relief.
When I climb through hard sections,
my body can feel extreme pain
from the skin on my fingers or an
uncomfortable position.”This is when thoughts of technique
and self-doubt cross her mind. “I
believe that the trick to getting
through an intense section is not to
allow myself to have any of those
negative thoughts and if I do, to
not allow them to stick for too
long or I will come off. When I step
onto the rock at the beginning of
a hard climb, I always tell myself
what I want to be thinking about,
this could be self-encouragement
or reminding myself to breathe
and relax and of course, the beta
to achieve the route. For me, my
performance is mainly based on this
control of thoughts. When I start
climbing, I can only control what my
body is doing. I try and let my minddrift off. Therefore, I try and think
about starting rather than when I’m
moving through the climb.”Angie says because she is proud of
everything she has done, it’s hard
to single out one single climbing
achievement. She says it’s not just
about the final goal but all the hard
work that goes into the journey
beforehand. “As I’m getting older,
I am discovering the importance
of climbing routes that inspire you,
regardless of grades, this different
type of mindset is an achievement
in itself and it’s allowing me to
look and explore different types of
challenges that I want to achieve.
I see it as ‘one achievement is the
inspiration for the next.’”Angie, as a young athlete has many
inspirational people around her, and
she says the people that inspire
her the most a strong women that
simply go for it and crush it, no
matter what their goals may be.“Climbing in the past was a male-
dominated sport. Lynn Hill claimed
the first free ascent of the nose on
El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. She
then repeated it in the following
year in less than 24 hours she was
one of the few female climbers
who, despite other people’s doubts
of her ability, went for something
deemed impossible at the time,”
Angie tells us.“This was a pathway for females to
start to believe in themselves and
just like Lynn there is now are the
new generation of strong-minded
women continuing to achieve the
impossible, pushing the limits and
empowering other women to do the
same. Outside of climbing Malala
Yousufzai is another example ofstrong inspirational women fighting
for dreams and ambitions that I’m
truly inspired by.”For many people, rock climbing is
a scary option; however Angie has
some solid advice for anyone who
has considered climbing, but can’t
get past their fears. “Never to doubt
your ability, never accept defeat,
and never make assumptions about
things you haven’t tried before.
If you’re scared of rock climbing,
don’t dismiss your fear, work with
it instead. This will help you build
to be a strong-minded climber, if
you’re scared to fall then work on
exactly that, fall a million times
until its nothing to you, don’t take
the easy way out. No fear can’t be
overcome!”The future sure does look bright
for this young climbing star. “With
the inclusion of climbing in the
Olympics for 2020, I decided that
I would regret not at least trying
to qualify in Oceania’s qualification
next year.”Angie will still be 15 years old when
the time comes to qualify, with not
one attended open competition
due to not being old enough to
compete this year. “Indoor climbing
is so different from outdoors.
The pressure and intensity of
competition climbing is next level
in comparison to outdoors and
something I am not used to. At this
point in my climbing, this will be
the greatest challenge, but it’s also
something I’m willing to give a go
whether I’m successful or not. I’ve
always taken risks and challenges
which seemed impossible and taken
failure as a learning opportunity;
I will take this challenge no
differently.”Credit Lee Cossey and Climbing Anchors