Can Angus send E9 (UK scary trad) first ascent before his baby is born? Patrescence - Hazel Findlay

[@Arcphotography2022]

“I don’t think I’m doing a dangerous thing I think I’m making a dangerous thing safe I’m the variable there” best line ever. I remember when he posted about this and it was the most amazing moment.

[@StrongMindClimbing]

Psyched you like this too. It's hard to find a line that summarises bold climbing in so few words, but this does a pretty good job :)

[@ScoobieDee]

@@StrongMindClimbing

[@helenlawson8426]

Came for the climbing and got a wonderful story of family, friends & rocks.❤

[@skateboardscott]

I love that the swearing isn’t bleeped out. That raw emotion shouldn’t be censored! Amazing send 👏

[@MarkG-su4wd]

Now, the scariest journey begins. Congrates on the send and the birth of your baby. Best wishes

[@billking8843]

"I did all the head things!" .... "Now I can give birth." Just brilliant!

[@wildadventurefilm]

This was so incredibly inspiring, you’ve got me massively psyched watching this. It’s been a long long while since we’ve had the chance to do any trad (no where near this level!) but watching you on this beautiful line, is just so inspiring. Fantastic send. Well done 💪 and congrats on parenthood to you both ❤️

[@lonniecarlson8866]

Thank you for sharing that with us, it was such a beautiful climb. ❤

[@diggory26]

Loved this. We're expecting our first baby girl in March and I've been dashing about the UK all summer getting in as many routes as possible with the knowledge while it may not be that long until I climb again, it may take some time for it to feel so freeing and light, the way it has up to now. Big changes, and you captured that transition beautifully :)

[@davidthomas1424]

Great vid and fantastic looking route. I've looked up at that wall so many times, having been sandbagged about it's potential 35 years ago! I like the way Hazel says "I'm a climber too" - what, really ;) .. and congratulations!

[@andersfugelli2764]

Love sharing this experience! Best wishes for the happy family, Hazel and Angus ❤

[@alexanderkay7697]

Nice one Angus, and well done Hazel & baby 😊 great footage and loads to learn. Subscribed!

[@StrongMindClimbing]

Thanks to everyone who came to the Premier! Let us know if you have any questions in the comments 😊

[@charlotteboeslingfilm]

Can we expect Aliette to be the strongest mind ever? She seems to have it in her genes! 😅🎉

[@CLANK...]

Would you want your daughter to do this style of climbing or would you actually be relieved if she was into less bold stuff?

[@HazelFindlay]

@@charlotteboeslingfilm😂 we’ll see. So far she shows a fierce determination to get her farts out (but lack of skill)

[@HazelFindlay]

@@CLANK...I guess it depends how she approaches it, what her mindset is like, her motivations etc. I imagine it’s hard to see as a parent either way but would be pretty hypocritical for us not to support her!

[@CLANK...]

@HazelFindlay that makes sense. I wonder what effect on motivation having two climbers that are known for being bold trad climbers could have 🤔 knowing teenagers she'll be into indoor coordination boulders only 😅 A lot of people report that their mindset toward risk/danger shifts a lot through pregnancy (neurologically and evolutionary this is accurate) have you noticed that? As a dad I noticed the shift, at what felt like a neurological level when we had a daughter

[@MichaelJones-rs5ce]

"Now I can give birth", loved that comment from Hazel haha

[@jh.gabriel]

Loved this so much!

[@pdebra6542]

Great adventure. And you two are such a lovely couple!

[@luke384]

Great stuff bro ❤

[@aalever]

This video deserves to go viral. Massive like :)

[@markedwardsclimbing]

Congratulations on both!

[@christineholmberg7431]

Lovely family bonding ❤️

[@ScoobieDee]

Great film guys 🙂

[@GlynHudson]

Nice work guys! Beautiful video and baby. Congratulations!

[@motfiner]

Congrats!!

[@andrewlow54]

wholesome and inspiring and joyful and wonderful and well done :-)

[@middle-agedclimber]

Wholesome 😊

[@dizhou1218]

I was crying watching the sent.

[@keithleonard515]

Great film, amazing assent in good style , placing gear in the lead, on the limit, could there be a direct finish one day??

[@StrongMindClimbing]

Yeah possibly, that was the original finish Angus looked at and cleaned up, but once the move right was found it felt eliminate not to go that way. Going straight up adds some really cool (and hard) moves on slightly friable rock, and you join the arête only a metre and a half higher. It might be the more logical finish for someone with a shorter wingspan though Glad you liked the film :)

[@PhilipMccosh]

Awesome effort. Well done. 😀👏Instead of moving right near the top would it be possible, albeit a lot harder, to continue the route straight up?

[@StrongMindClimbing]

Yeah I (Angus) tried that and also cleaned that bit of the wall. It was really interesting climbing! I did all the moves and it definitely adds an extra grade. Unfortunately there's a couple of fragile holds on that section, you still span right but just a bit higher, and since the span out right is possible earlier, it felt eliminate to go straight up to add a very small (but hard and cool) section of climbing. That being said, for shorter people (like Hazel) it would make sense to go straight up and might be more realistic with smaller fingers too :)

[@PhilipMccosh]

@ - thanks.👍

[@azorthegreat2112]

Congrats on becoming a father.

[@trillbrown3686]

Im really interested to hear what your experience of going back to hard trad is like with a new baby. For a while after mine i carried on climbing as normal but over the years i just started feeling more selfish and it became a real block to me enjoying the climb. I climb at a lower grade now but any other tips to get past this??

[@StrongMindClimbing]

Great question! You could do a really honest assessment of your current risk tolerance. If it feels different to your past self - what does that look like, what are you doing differently, are you in fact lowering the risk level or are you simply climbing lower grades? If you still want to push yourself, are there other ways of reducing the risk other than reducing the grade? Are you actually happy with the decision you've made given that you're a parent? If so perhaps you need to accept this and show yourself some self-kindness. Doing a deep dive into these questions is the best way to see if you'd actually like to change something, and if so, what? I believe there are many ways of changing the risk profile of your climbing life other than simply lowering the challenge level and there are many ways to enjoy climbing should your risk tolerance change. But we need to be honest with ourselves and take action if we want to see changes in our climbing. Good luck with it! We have yet to see how parenthood will affect our relationship with risk in climbing (of course as a parent risk management on behalf of your child starts in pregnancy), so we're on the same journey - watch this space to see how it goes 😊

[@elle9976]

Angus what was the one mental technique you used the most on this route? Congratulations on all counts!

[@StrongMindClimbing]

I’d have to say the breath. Of course I did a lot of fall practice which is a technique in itself, but I used the breath loads during the send. You can probably see the the breath is part of my sequence for two of the crux moves, but on the send burn I was more tired and you might hear that every move on the runout is connected to a breath, which helped me stay really present with the climbing. Then at the rest and the final pause before the end I use different breaths to calm myself down and focus. It’s such a handy multi-functional tool and it’s always there. Hope that all makes sense?

[@NormalClimbers]

❤

[@prolayhazra9279]

🎉👏👏👏💐

[@thiebautfischer9191]

Can you say approximately How many sessions and practice falls you did ?

[@StrongMindClimbing]

I think 21 sessions (roughly 10 of which were cleaning the rock). One full session of fall practice with about 15 falls and then other falls for warming up/in between lead attempts. Hopefully you can see from the film that the falls started really really small and built up very gradually, it's easy to show the big falls that look exciting but fall practice is often about the easier less glamorous falls below the bolt/gear :)

[@thiebautfischer9191]

@@StrongMindClimbing thank you! very interresting. whoat tha project went down pretty fast (beside rock cleaning)! so you built up the fall practice all the way up to the big one, or you stopped say half the distance of the biggest possible fall?

[@twitchyboneselectronica2375]

Comments below UK trad vids will/must include - People who don’t understand risk mgmt People who don’t understand UK trad gear placement People who don’t understand trad belaying People who don’t understand that different countries have different rock ethics Every…..time.

[@ArinaThomsen]

It feels close to insanity... So risky!

[@ChristianP.-zu2xg]

Taken aback by this story. Im a climber and boulderer myself. And I love the way Hazel, you, is looking at things mental health wise etc. But, this time I m not going the same road. By having a baby (soon) parents should act responsibly in a way to take care of the baby in any kind of way as good as possible and reduce risks where possible. Why now still trying this life threatening trad route. Angus, u didnt get hurt or are only alive still bcause of great luck and a good belayer. This fall was very close. Thoughts: Irresponsible. Sorry. But, I wish u a happy baby time and that all goes well. Still love what u r doing. Disagree with this one

[@wd4413]

​@ChristianP.-zu2xg this is a poor take. What do you hope to achieve with this comment? Angus has already completed the climb and he did so without any serious issues. The fall he had was done safely. As Angus mentioned, he is the variable to making a "dangerous" thing safe. Just because you or I perceive this climb as dangerous doesn't mean it has the same risk for another climber.

[@ZoniacMan]

Aah. I thought it was race. You'd induce when he started climbing :D /s obviously.

[@paulmitchell5349]

Babies outrank new climbs. Always. Fun Burn would be a better route name.

[@simongreenthumb6376]

Is that the baby talking? Yawn