Hazel Findlay is, quite simply, one of the world’s best climbers.
A six-time British junior champion, who has been scaling peaks since she was eight, the 29-year-old actually gave up competitive climbing at the age of just 16.
But that simply marked a new chapter in her life and she has subsequently become the first British woman to negotiate one of the hardest grades in her sphere, as well as free-climbing Yosemite’s El Capitan – the vertical rock featured in Alex Honnold’s and Jimmy Chin’s recent Oscar-winning Free Solo film -no less than four times.
Ms Findlay is now poised to undertake her first theatre tour, The Climb Within, which is heading to 11 UK theatres next month, presented by Speakers from the Edge, and she will be talking about her remarkable life at Eden Court in Inverness on September 24.
Fascinated by the mental challenges of climbing, her focus during these events will be to explore how people can use a sport such as climbing to put them in hard places which push them beyond what they thought possible.
Ms Findlay said: “I am very bad at setting goals. Even when I set them and train for them, I tend to end up doing something different. I have always followed what pulls me and have been very bad at doing what I think I ‘should’ do.
“This make me very intrinsically motivated, but it also means I don’t get to experience what is learnt from long-term goals. I think I will find one one day: watch this space.
“Being on the wall for more than a day is a great experience. You really appreciate what it is exactly that you need to survive.
“No sip of water is wasted, no bite of food. You also become familiar with the ways of the wall. When the sun hits, what the birds are up to, how the moon lights up the rock, and all the time you are wondering how such a wall is even possible.”
For further details, visit www.speakersfromtheedge.com/tours