Hazel Findlay

Hazel Findlay (born May 1989) is a British traditional climber, sport climber and big wall climber. She was the first female British climber to climb a route graded E9, and a route graded . She did the third ascent of the Yosemite traditional route ''Magic Line'' . She has free climbed El Capitán four times on four different routes and made many first female ascents on other routes. ''Climbing'' magazine gave her their Golden Piton award for traditional climbing in 2013.

Biography

Findlay was born in 1989,. the daughter of climber Steve Findlay.
She began climbing on the sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire with her father when she was six years old..
She became a six-time junior national rock climbing champion, but gave up indoor competitive climbing in favour of trad climbing.
She is a graduate of the University of Bristol, where she studied philosophy..
She lives in North Wales.

Notable climbs

Findlay made the 3rd ascent of Magic Line (2nd ascent placing the gear) 5.14c/bc+ (E10)
Findlay made the first female ascent of a British E9 grade climb with her June 2011 climb of Dave Birkett's route ''Once Upon a Time in the South West'' (E9 6c) at Dyer's Lookout in Devon..

She is the first British woman to free climb El Capitán in Yosemite National Park, which she has done four times: she made the first female ascent of ''Golden Gate'' in 2011,. the first female ascent of ''Pre-Muir Wall'' in 2012, and an ascent of ''Freerider'' in only three days in 2013. In 2017 she free-climbed the ''Salathé Wall''.

She was the first person to free-climb ''Adder Crack'' (5.13a), in Squamish, British Columbia, in 2012.
With Jack Geldard, she made the first ascent of the front face of the Aiguille de Saussure, a spire in the Mont Blanc massif, Chamonix, France, also in 2012. A more complete list of Hazel's ascents can be found o
theCrag

She was the first person to climb 'Tainted Love' in Squamish (5.13d).

Other first female ascents of trad routes by Findlay include:
*''Air Sweden'' (5.13b R) in Indian Creek, Utah, in April 2010.
*''69'' (5.13b/c) in Squamish, later in 2010.
*''San Simeon'' (E8) in Pembrokeshire, in May 2011.
* ''The Doors'' (approx 5.13) in Cadarese, Italy, in 2012.
*''Chicama'' (E9 6c) in Anglesey, in early 2013.
*First ascent of ''Tainted Love'' (5.13d R, 8b+, E9) in Squamish, in April 2018..
*''Magic Line'' (5.14c R, 8c+, E10) in Yosemite, on 26 November 2019.
*''Mission Impossible'' (E9 7a) on Gallt yr Ogof, Wales, on 22 September 2020.

As well as trad climbing, Findlay has also climbed sport climbing routes; most notably:
*In 2014, she climbed ''Fish Eye'' in Oliana, Spain, reaching a difficulty level of 8c/5.14b. Although not a first female ascent (the route had been climbed in 2010 by Daila Ojeda) it was the highest level attained by a British female climber.
*In 2017, she climbed ''Mind Control'' (8c), also in Oliana.
*In 2022, she climbed Esclatamasters (9a) in Spain

Awards and sponsorship

''Climbing'' magazine gave Findlay their Golden Piton award for trad climbing in 2013, citing climbs including ''Chicama'' and ''Freerider''..

She is professionally sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Sea to Summit, Motion Nutrition

References

External links

*
Hazel Findlay's profile on theCrag

{{DEFAULTSORT:FIndlay, Hazel
1989 births
Living people
British rock climbers
Alumni of the University of Bristol
Female climbers