Findlay was born in 1989,[1] the daughter of climber Steve Findlay.[2]
She began climbing on the sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire with her father when she was six years old.[3][4]
She became a six-time junior national rock climbing champion but gave up competition climbing in favor of traditional climbing.[1]
She is a graduate of the University of Bristol, where she studied philosophy.[5]
She lives in North Wales. She married climber Angus Kille in Las Vegas in 2023.
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.[2][6]
She is the first British woman to free climb El Capitán in Yosemite National Park, which she has done four times:[5] she made the first female ascent of Golden Gate in 2011,[3] the first female ascent of Pre-Muir Wall in 2012,[7] and an ascent of Freerider in only three days in 2013.[8] In 2017 she free-climbed the Salathé Wall.[9]
She was the first person to free-climb Adder Crack (5.13a), in Squamish, British Columbia, in 2012.[10] She was the first person to climb 'Tainted Love' in Squamish (5.13d).
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.[11] In 2022, along with Alex Honnold, she made a first free ascent of Ingmikortilaq, a 3,750-foot wall and one of the world’s tallest monoliths, in Greenland.[12] A more complete list of Hazel's ascents can be found on theCrag.
Other first female ascents of trad routes by Findlay include:
First ascent of Tainted Love (5.13d R, 8b+, E9) in Squamish, in April 2018.[18][19]
Magic Line (5.14c R, 8c+, E10) in Yosemite, on 26 November 2019.[20][19]
Mission Impossible (E9 7a) on Gallt yr Ogof, Wales, on 22 September 2020.[21]
As well as trad climbing, Findlay has also climbed sport climbing routes;[22] 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.[23][24]
In 2017, she climbed Mind Control (8c), also in Oliana.[25]
