Hazel Findlay

Hazel Findlay Professional climber, founder of Strong Mind Ltd, mindset, fear-management and flow coach.

I’ve been breastfeeding for 19 months, and it’s one of the more psychologically complex things I’ve done. Most of the ti...
19/05/2026

I’ve been breastfeeding for 19 months, and it’s one of the more psychologically complex things I’ve done. Most of the time, it feels so obviously right for both of us, and I’m so glad I pushed through the difficult phases early on to get here. Breastfeeding has changed as she’s changed — at different points it’s been food, drink, comfort, regulation, bonding and sleep. And it something I get a lot out of too.

But there are other moments where I feel the cost of it. I’m still feeding her at least 3 times a night. Then there’s the constant energy demand, the feeling that my body is still not quite my own, and feeling touched-out — especially now she loves to pinch my other ni**le in a really irritating way 🤬 In those moments, I catch myself planning an exit strategy.

So far, motherhood has confronted me again and again with experiences that resist clean narratives. I want to say that breastfeeding has been “incredible” or “magical”, but mostly it’s been very worthwhile with a shifting set of trade-offs, and a constant recalibration between my own needs and my child’s.

Breastfeeding feels strangely under-discussed, given both its obvious benefits and how physically and psychologically consuming it can be. It’s very “normal”, but also kind of invisible. Valued, yet poorly supported and massively under-researched. We know surprisingly little about the physiological effects of prolonged breastfeeding on female athletes. I still don’t have my normal cycle back, or my normal body composition, so it’s clearly still having a significant effect on my physiology.

Who knows how long I’ll keep it up. But for now I think the experience is still net positive for both of us — well, especially her 😂 — and somehow that’s always the most important thing, until it really can’t be.

Scroll for some stats/context on breastfeeding. Photo from .kille

There are many things you could teach someone to help them improve at climbing — technique, training tips, the hard skil...
12/05/2026

There are many things you could teach someone to help them improve at climbing — technique, training tips, the hard skills of rope work. But nothing is more interesting or impactful, to me, than helping climbers find the right psychological space.

If someone is present and not overwhelmed by fear or distraction, learning tends to happen naturally. Most coaching focuses on what you do. We’re more interested in the state you’re in when you do it.

We just finished putting this into practice with a brilliant group in Mallorca — rope climbing and DWS. It was a blast. Here are some photos (all DWS just because it’s so pretty and the vibe was 🤩).

I’ve been trying to get my head on straight before writing something. It’s been so painful to accept that you are gone. ...
28/04/2026

I’ve been trying to get my head on straight before writing something. It’s been so painful to accept that you are gone. I guess that’s a testament to love, even if it was 15 years ago. And to the outsized impact you had on everyone you met.

The most important thing to say is that I am grateful to have spent a corner of my life with you. Driving across North America in the purple soccer mommy van. Adventures in the desert, sierras, needles and bugs. Hard times in Albion. We were kindred spirits when we met, and you could’ve made a movie about our time together, so high were the highs, so low were the lows, and so big were the feelings. Which was the thing with you, you always put it all out there in climbing and in life and felt it all, the whole force of it all. I think it’s what made you unique, but also why you found things hard, and why losses wiped you out. I’ve never known any one person to carry such ease and such heaviness, the whole spectrum of it all. Laughing at your own thoughts one minute and then wallowing in the tragedy of it all the next. I really didn’t want this ending for you, but few of us can really say we lived our dreams like you did. I’ll hang on to that, and the stacks of memories.

Some goals mean more than others. Sometimes they are a gift to yourself after a long period of giving your energy to oth...
09/04/2026

Some goals mean more than others. Sometimes they are a gift to yourself after a long period of giving your energy to others.

It was special to watch my friend climb the classic hard boulder Cosmic Wheels recently in Wales, on a perfect day.

Photos by the one and only

Spring in Wales! 🐑 chipping away at some projects in between adventures with my toddler. She’s hit that intense sassy ph...
07/04/2026

Spring in Wales! 🐑 chipping away at some projects in between adventures with my toddler. She’s hit that intense sassy phase. Trying to apply my climbing calm to those toddler tantrums 😳 It’s nice to be home .climbing

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mothercrushers out there. Whether you’re crushing rocks, crushing bedtime, or like me bein...
15/03/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mothercrushers out there. Whether you’re crushing rocks, crushing bedtime, or like me being crushed by your boob-obsessed toddler… today is for you 😊

When I’m tired and in the thick of it, it can be easy to focus on what’s challenging — breastfeeding, poor sleep, and an...
04/03/2026

When I’m tired and in the thick of it, it can be easy to focus on what’s challenging — breastfeeding, poor sleep, and anything resembling a proper rest day. But when I step back, I realise how good our setup actually is. We have the ability to travel, work and climb as parents. We have an amazing community of climbers supporting us at the crag, and Aliette is having the best of times making new friends.

And as a climber? What I lack in sleep, energy and time, I’m making up for in wisdom and experience. In many ways I’m stronger now than I was in my 20s — physically and mentally — and I can perform better on demand.

But life is still more challenging, and not just practically. I’ve noticed how many internalised beliefs I carry about what mums can and can’t do. About whether “mum” and “athlete” are compatible concepts — in my own mind and in society.

I think I had a deeper fear than I realised: that becoming a mum would mark the beginning of the end of hard climbing for me. And that’s probably part of the reason I had her ‘late’.

In some ways, Paper Mullat (8b+/c) was just another sport route. In other ways, it was proof of concept — that becoming a mum didn’t have to mark the end of climbing ‘hard’ (as a relative concept for me personally).

Thanks to so many people for supporting us at the crag. And of course to .kille who is always my biggest cheerleader has had to deal with a frustrating parenting-related injury this trip 🤦🏼‍♀️

Photo is of the crux move on Paper Mullat. A lot of people do this section as a dyno or huge move, but this is how I chose to do it in the end. Good job I worked on my pocket strength with before coming out 🫡

Time to unclench👇 There’s a moment on a trip (or through a process with a goal) when I don’t perform as I expect. I know...
27/02/2026

Time to unclench👇

There’s a moment on a trip (or through a process with a goal) when I don’t perform as I expect. I know this mental terrain well, the familiar thoughts surface: not enough, behind, maybe I set the wrong goal. Alongside that comes the desire to control the situation — to optimise everything. More sleep. More rest. More climbing. More skin. More focus.

As if adaptation can be forced. As if the outcome can be negotiated into existence if I just try hard enough.

And then inevitably I notice I’m doing that and I circle back to a philosophy that goes best by the word “unclenching”. The deliberate decision to loosen the grip on how things are supposed to go. To stop treating the end of the trip like a deadline that determines whether it was all worthwhile.

It’s undeniably more comfortable to leave a trip having achieved the goal you set. It feels tidy and satisfying. It’s inevitable that when you care about something you’d prefer to ‘do well’ at it.

But it’s also possible to allow the process to unfold as it will. When I soften into that, everything feels lighter (including myself when I climb). I don’t try less hard – but I do climb with more presence and less pressure and I enjoy being here more. It’s kinda like the moment you notice your jaw was clenched the whole time and you learn to release.

Since writing this I went through the process of unclenching and managed to send my project! It’s always interesting now being on the other side of a goal and being psyched but also knowing it was more about the experience. Climbing goals like this one are such an interesting opportunity to learn how to hold ambition and detachment together. It’s one of the reasons I love it so much.

.climbing photo from and a hat tip to for a lot of language around these ideas.

Made it to Oliana after a long Welsh winter! This is my first proper route climbing trip in two years. I usually regain ...
10/02/2026

Made it to Oliana after a long Welsh winter! This is my first proper route climbing trip in two years. I usually regain fitness fairly quickly, but after pregnancy, belly birth, and mostly bouldering for the last year, I’m curious to see how my current form translates onto 50-metre Oliana pitches. I’m also still breastfeeding and waking up a lot at night, so honestly, anything could happen. I’m trying to go with the flow rather than force things too much. Mostly psyched to be in one of my favourite places with my fam!

Climbing photos from local photographer

Not about climbing or performance - but about sleep, mindset and learning to own my own choices.
16/01/2026

Not about climbing or performance - but about sleep, mindset and learning to own my own choices.

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