Climbers

A prolific force in the Lake District in the UK, establishing many hard and bold trad lines throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Hazel Findlay is one of the UK's most accomplished female climbers with many hard sport and trad ascents to her name.

The daughter of Steve Findlay, she started climbing at an early age and was active around the south west of the UK. In 2011 she climbed Once Upon a Time in the Southwest at Dyers Lookout and became the first British woman to climb E9, and in 2014 she climbed Fish Eye at Oliana to become the first British woman to climb 8c.

Hazel has continually expanded the limits of her climbing with a long string of impressive sport and trad climbs. Of particular note is her ascent of Magic Line E10/8c+ in 2019, a Ron Kauk route in Yosemite with a reputation born from repelling a slew of very capable aspirants. Hazel's ascent was only the third in 25 years, and the second placing the gear on lead.

In 2022 she became the second British woman (after Emma Twyford) to climb 9a with her ascent of Escalatamàsters.

Alongside her climbing she has a deep interest in the mental aspects of climbing and runs Strong Mind, a coaching company focused on mental techniques for improving your climbing.

References

[1] Interview with Soline Kentzel for grimper.com, May 2023 https://www.grimper.com/news-femmes-falaises-hazel-findlay-you-don-need-balls-to-be-bold

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ckmpivT5UIrFCU7idZqNg?

[3] Interview with Sonnie Trotter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a07_bI4lrFI

Features in E96c and Clown Ascending.

On E96c:

It was from my warehouse home here that my involvement with E9 6c was filmed and recorded. This happened within the last few weeks of my departure from this special perch. John Mortimer’s son, Jeremy, produced an excellent piece for Radio Three called, ‘Between the Ears’. Dominic Clemence produced and directed the film for BBC2. This was the attempted story of The Indian Face, a fierce route on the cathedral of rock, Clogwyn Du Arddu, on the flank of Snowdon. I liked the bit where I am sat under my climbing wall in the studio flippantly explaining the image I painted on the scar where the flake had been. This small granite flake had come away in my arms whilst testing the peg that had been smashed into its side. I drew a quick sketch on the wall of ‘the hunt‘, something that had stayed with me from viewing the Lascaux Caves in France. Only two people had seen it. Paul Williams had photographed it and Johnny Dawes had scraped it off (or rather, an acolyte had scraped it off). One had died and the other had seemingly gone mad! [1]

References

[1] http://footlesscrow.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/sacred-ground.html

[2] Interview with Adrian Berry June 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20061022044820/http://www.planetfear.com/article_detail.asp?a_id=250

Robbie is a Scottish all rounder. He is particularly experienced with long/big wall free routes, including the Alpine Trilogy of three iconic 8b+ multipitches: Silbergeier, Des Kaisers neue Kleider and End of Silence.

References

[1] A previous 8a.nu account https://www.8a.nu/user/buster-martin/sportclimbing

Pete Oxley was a prolific first ascentionist in the dorset area and was one of the driving forces behind the growth of sport climbing on the south coast of England before he moved away from the area in 2005. He's put up over 800 new routes in areas such as Portland, Lulworth and Swanage as well as (slightly) further afield in Avon, Cheddar and The Peak District.

References

[1] Interview with Wil Treasure on the Factor Two podcast.

Vadim Timonov is somewhat of an enigma in global climbing. Due to his Russian citizenship it makes travel inaccessible for him. Despite this he boasts a wealth of hard boulder ascents, including Monkey Wedding 8C/V15 and The Understanding 8C/V15. He has also flashed Mirta 8B+/V14.

In 2022 Vadim begun projecting Blackflip SDS and in May 2023 he got the first ascent giving it 8C+/9A and later retro upgrading it to 9A/V17.

References

[1] Interview with https://covergroundusa.com Jan 2025 https://covergroundusa.com/connorherson

[2] Interview with Sonnie Trotter, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1MdKRXzclE

[3] https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/golden-piton-2025-connor-herson/

Strong boulderer and Olympian. Hamish is most known for his quick ascents of hard boulders, including:

• Megatron (9A) - 5 Sessions
• No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - 1 Session (2h17m)

As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps [1] and moved to Squamish to focus on outdoor climbing.

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DWTrCCyCNy4/

References

[1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/5SisJOwqwhllLtqX0yZXrb?

[2] Podcast with Sonnie Trotter, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDX7_mDDTmE

Leo Houlding is a british climber, mountaineer and adventurer. Initially known for his hard trad climbing in the UK, particularly in North Wales and the Peak District, he quickly moved on to climbing big walls in Yosemite with very impressive ascents such as his near-onsight of El Niño. He then moved on to more remote big walls from Greenland to Antarctica.

References

[1] Houlding, L. (2022). Closer to the Edge: Climbing to the Ends of the Earth. United Kingdom: Headline.

[2] Top Gear segment, 2005 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKLsBk5CijQ