Hazel
Findlay
Hazel Findlay was
introduced to climbing by
her dad nearly 25 years
ago and has become
one of the boldest trad
climbers in the world,
with free ascent up
difficult El Capitan routes
and run-out gritstone.
“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.WORDS WITH ONE OF THE BEST
CLIMBERS IN THE WORLDStory by Jude Spancken
Hazel Findlay
on Le Pirate
on Aiguille
d’Argentière
near Chamonix
at sunriseWas 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 suc-
cessful 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 phi-
losophy 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 fol-
low 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...
Photo^JonGriffithfeature