Hazel Findlay


Hazel Findlay is a British trad climber and big wall free climber. She was the first female British climber to climb a route graded E9, and the first to climb a route graded 8c/5.14b. She has free climbed El Capitán four times on four different routes, and made many first female ascents. Climbing magazine gave her their Golden Piton award for trad 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 seven 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 Sheffield.

Notable climbs

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 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, 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.
Other first female ascents of trad routes by Findlay include:
As well as trad climbing, Findlay has also climbed sport climbing routes; most notably:
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, Beta Climbing Designs, Sterling Rope, Ellis Brigham, Yes Nurse, and Mule Bar.