Anna Hazelnutt
Primary Outdoor Sport: Climbing
Sponsors: Rab, Evolv, & Wild Country
Favorite Beverage: Cold Brew
Sunrise or Sunset: Sunset
Non-Outdoor Hobby: Drawing
Go-To Trail Snack: Trader Joe’s Oven-Baked Cheese Bites
Favorite Season: Spring
Guilty Pleasure: Drinking Whiskey in the Shower
Book Recommendation: Cloud Cuckoo Land
Three Words to Describe You: Chaotic, Reflective, & Excited
“I started as a cross country runner, but if I'm being completely honest, I did not like it. I just did it because the rest of my family did it. When I found climbing, I was about 16 years old, so it was the second half of high school.
I found it on my own. I was asked on a date to a climbing gym. It just opened up near the high school and I was like, ‘This is the best thing ever,’ and I was completely addicted. I'd gone a handful of times before and I knew I really liked it, but I kind of thought it had to be someone's birthday. I just didn't understand that it was its own entity.
Right when I grasped that concept, I immediately bought a membership, and was like, ‘Great, I'm gonna do this every day.’”
“It just teaches so much. Doesn't it? There is this grit and tenacity that comes with trying something that maybe seems impossible and learning it down and bringing it closer and closer to possible. I think that mentality really transfers to the rest of my life.
When things feel hard, I have this understanding and optimism that it will get easier. I'm more willing to challenge myself to do things that are uncomfortable, whether that's social situations or I need to fix this thing in the house. I take that with me to all facets of life.
I think climbing has given me so much confidence. I've become a little more confident in what I know and more willing to voice that confidence in my opinions and having them even if they might be wrong. Also, confident to acknowledge that I'm wrong.
I know the process on the rock and I have a lot of things that I'm really, really confident about now. And that exudes in life. I feel really optimistic, positive, certain, and self-assured.”
“I love slab. I love the movement of slab. I love how creative you can be on it. A lot of the weight is on your feet so you just have so many more movements you can do. You can get really funky. I just feel like a superhero when I'm climbing slab because you're like ‘That's tiny. That's never gonna work and then it works.’ So there's just this disbelief that turns into possibility when you're climbing slab.
On top of that, it's just a mental challenge. It's scary. You have to go through a process mentally to be able to do it and to lead it and to feel confident on it, especially if you're trad climbing. It just adds this extra element that's really exhilarating and fun and it creates this sense of mastery when you've done it.”
“Part of my climbing journey has been focusing on climbing bigger, harder, better things. I could say I have a lot of proud moments in the sense of what I've done, but I think I’m prouder of the character building moments where I have been really scared of something and overcome that fear. And for sure, the send was down the line, but it's that moment where I feel like I believe in myself and something's possible. It's happened on so many scary climbs for me and I'm really proud of my mentality when it comes to that.
There is a distinction for me between being proud of an ascent or proud of how I got there. I have a lot of mental blocks when it comes to climbing. I get quite scared of leading, whether you can tell or not. I am fighting through it pretty constantly.
I put my music in. I try to zen out. And, I'm always really proud of the moment where it switches from feeling really daunting and overwhelming to being like, ‘I can do this. I'm going to do this.’”
“The Walk of Life is this climb in the UK. It's quite dangerous, and it's really run out, really scary. I remember there was just this moment where I was so calm and confident. I was like, ‘Oh, I'm going to do this climb. I can lead this.’ Because you don't want to lead it unless you know you're not going to fall. That was the mentality that I had.
I was really proud of that, and then I did it. I followed through. I wasn't shaky. I wasn't nervous. I wasn't like, ‘Oh no. Should I? Should I not? I was just like, ‘No, I'm ready. I'm going to do it.’ I even called the director of the film to be like, ‘I'm going to send it today. You should come down.’
I was so confident. I was like, ‘I'm going to send this tomorrow.’ I was just certain.”
“I went through a little depressive stint recently and the only thing that started getting me out of it was I took a weekend trip to the VRG just to be outside. I started flowing and using my body and being outside andI felt so happy for the first time in a really long time. I was like, ‘Have I just been inside for two months?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, I've just been inside for two months.’
There's just something about moving and being in nature. You’ve heard when you cuddle someone it releases the feel good hormones and stuff. That's me when I touch a rock. I'm like, ‘Oh wow, that's what this felt like. I forgot what the rock touch felt like.’ I'm all like, ‘Oh man, I'm really releasing those feel good hormones.’ It's funny because physical touch is low on my love languages, but rock, ‘I’m like yeah.’”
“I'm super hard on myself. I always feel I should be doing better or that it's not enough. I feel like it gives me a lot of push to keep going and to try harder, but at the same time, it's such negative self-talk.
So I'm trying to work on how I can be more positive to myself and still have that push. I'm working on it.
I like to be like, ‘Where I am is where I am is where I am is where I am. What I'm doing is what I'm capable of doing.’
If I try as hard as I can, if I'm putting my heart into it, I'm going to do as best as I can. If my foot slips unexpectedly, that's just what happens. You know? If I send something or if I don't send something, that's just where I'm at in that moment. It's hard to get upset about that situation if you know you're putting your all into it.
And, you know what? Even if you're not putting your all into it, if you're having a bad day, it's just, ‘Where you are is where you are.’ I think it's easy to get caught up in this idea of where you think you should be, but what's that based on?”
“We change with every climb we try. Maybe that's why I've been having so much fun this season. I'm trying so many different climbs and I have to change for each one and grow for each one and learn for each one.
That's all climbing is, it’s just a fun way to learn. It's just puzzles and it's your body and it's playing. It's being a kid again. I like that a lot.
I like that you grow with each experience because it's not changing. The only factor that's changing is you. That's all you got to play with. You can't control the weather. You can't control how the rock is. You can't even control if you get a climbing partner for the day. There's so much out of your hands.”
“Nature just mellows me out. I feel like it mellows a lot of people out. I would say it diffuses any kind of competition that I might feel. I don't compete. I don't like it so much just because to me it kind of defeats the point.
I want to be outside, hearing the birds, just being outside all day. There's something really special about that. The connection and getting dirty. Understanding that we're just animals on our own quest and doing this pointless thing in the grand scheme of things. It really puts a lot of the climbing experience into perspective. We try really hard to get to the middle or maybe even just the bottom of a rock. You know? It really puts it in perspective for me and it makes everyday worth it.
Let's say you have a shit day climbing. You still got to be outside all day, what a privilege. I don't have that same mindset when I'm inside versus outside.”
