Send With Women: Anna Hazelnutt

When I was around 15 and before I knew about climbing gyms, I went on a bike ride with my dad. We passed by a renaissance fair with a ton of art booths and a rock wall, so of course we stopped in. The woman running the rock wall let me go up once, twice, and eventually as many times as I wanted because I wouldn’t leave. I remember being in the harness for hours until we finally had to bike home before the sun set on us. Then a few months later, I remember begging my dad to take me to a rock gym after a bad cross country meet, but we had no idea how to do it and we just walked around and admired the climbers. I didn’t actually start climbing until a year later when I was asked on a date, my first date, to a climbing gym. That same day I bought a membership and I’ve never stopped. This is the moment I truly started climbing, and often the one I reference in interviews.

Snacks! And more snacks. And then, if you can believe it: even more snacks. I get VERY hangry and no one likes a hangry hippo.

If I had to pick just one, I’d choose the moment I topped out “the Walk of Life” in Devon, England. I remember feeling completely in control throughout the entire 50 meter slab trad route, and when I got to the top I was beyond euphoric. It was a mix of feeling excited, proud, calm, competent, and overjoyed.

It’s a tango with the wall that requires precision, focus, and trust in how you and your partner (the wall) connect. I think (a) Slab is typically sandbagged, and (b) Slab is often scary. It’s hard to want to feel terrified when projecting something 3 grades easier than your max. People don’t like to get their egos smashed.

Sometimes it feels unfair to be a woman in rock climbing. That’s such a valid feeling. But try not to let your perception of what people say or think about you get in the way of your rock climbing journey. Do it your way. You belong here too.

I have both grade goals and specific route/boulder goals for each discipline I do (which is a constantly evolving list), but I also have my psychological goals, like ultimately remembering to find joy with every climb.

I’m only human at the end of the day. I think the best thing that someone in the public eye can do is to represent that truth. I hope that, if I am a role model to someone out there, I’m a role model who shows that it's okay to be imperfect and grow from experiences, rather than someone who feigns perfection.

There are a lot of badass women doing badass rock climbs in some pretty badass documentaries now. I think the next push is for a badass all-woman crew behind the camera, too.

Climbing is about learning. I find that thinking about climbing “sends” in terms of both completion AND execution is a very valuable growth mindset. E.g. I sent it, but it was sloppy; maybe I can still learn more from it. This offers a process-focused solution to the more problematic must-conquer mentality.

There aren’t many women first ascentionsits, guidebook authors or route setters when compared to men and the current ratio of women to men that climb. This creates bias in grades and popularizes climbing trends that often favor a bigger body. These climbs shape us and our ideas about climbing. It would be incredible to see an initiative to get more women involved in the entire climbing process, whether that means setting or establishing outside, to have a more diverse set of people coming up with the ideas that we, as the greater climbing community, play on.