Hazel Findlay
Hazel Findlay (born May 1989) is a British trad climber, sport 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 did the 3rd ascent of trad route Magic Line 5.14c/8c+ (E10) in Yosemite Valley. 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 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 on theCrag. She was the first person to climb 'Tainted Love' in Squamish (5.13d). Other first female ascents of trad routes by Findlay include: As well as trad climbing, Findlay has also climbed sport climbing routes; most notably: 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