Can you imagine how it feels having responsibilities and obligations for over 15 years and then being completely free again? Living free from one day to the next?
Well, I can’t. Every time when I feel like something or someone is slowing me down, I tend to take that element out of my life and leap forward.
Two days ago I arrived in America, a country that I have a special and complex relation to. I refused to visit America for a long time because of the many prejudgements I had. But one day the pull of visiting that vast country with its wide open spaces became so strong that I had to reset all to 0 and jump in.
That was exactly 2 years ago. I began traveling and climbing around the US with a completely open mind and heart and I learned so much. Of course I don’t agree with lots of things going on in this country, but my curiosity and the people I meet help me to growing. Today, I have this strange but good feeling while being in America and an understanding for what it is and how I position myself in it.
I met Lynn Hill a couple of years ago during a Petzl Roc trip, and I took her climbing several times around my home town of Grenoble in France. I never looked up to her, I simply enjoyed going rock climbing with her. She’s the kind of person who has this fire and intensity in her eyes while moving on rocks, and I can see how much it means to her.
I am myself while being with her. This has always been the case, and maybe that’s why we’re now driving together from Boulder to Yosemite, in a car fully packed with gear and our friend Bryan who’s making a documentary about the two of us.
For many years I have had this idea in my mind of freeclimbing the Nose, but my reluctance with visiting America kept me away from it and the Valley. And of course missing the courage of taking those first steps…
Last year I climbed the Nose in 3 days. Those days on the wall somehow destroyed a big part of how I had imagined that route. Instead of being filled with excitement, I had to deal with so many people, struggling to put up the portaledge at night, climbing in cracks full of pee and passing by people’s trash.
When I topped out with my partner, exhausted after our first big wall, I thought that that chapter was now over for me. But that same night I wasn’t able to sleep, which happens often after a big effort. It was 2 am, and I started to watch several film clips about the Nose. I became super excited about going up there again, giving it another chance and working on freeing the hard pitches. I woke up my partner and told him about my thought’s. He almost jumped out of the bed, yelling at me saying that there was no way that he would support me in that. Disappointed about his reaction, I sent a text via Instagram to Lynn, asking if she was willing to go up there with me.
Lynn is one of the most non-active people on social media, and so I got a response 6 months later saying:
“Nina, I just saw your message, sorry for the late answer! 2018 is going to be the 25thanniversary of the first free climb ascent of the Nose, so I wanted to go back and try to free climb as much as possible. I’m in!”
And now we’re driving towards that big piece of rock. Chasing the shadows on the red rocks, speeding across the fantastic landscape of the American West.
Lynn was 33 when she did this historical ascent.
I’m turning 32 in a month.
Over the last 15 years her life has been dedicated to her son’s rhythm and needs, doing the best she could. She juggled the priorites of raising a child with her life as a climber, although she always continued to go to the rocks.
I have Zero responsibilities in my life right now. I dedicate almost all my time to the sports and the lifestyle which goes with it.
So we’re on our way, excited like hell and with this great feeling towards freedom.
