Field Journal

Written by Mark Bullock // Photography by Jérémy Bernard

Nina Caprez is a Swiss climber whose remarkable career has seen her climb some of the most notoriously difficult multi-pitch routes in the world. A former competition climber, she has moved inexorably towards adventure. Now she juggles two small children and a nomadic life, travelling in a truck with her partner Jérémy to seek out climbing communities and bring people together through climbing. Mark Bullock caught up with Nina to discuss her career, her recent film Andrea, and the impact a humanitarian disaster had on her family.

Mark Bullock: Let’s talk about the new film, Andrea. Could you describe for our readers the initial concept of the project?
Nina Caprez: Initially it was to share values of the sport. I came to a point in my career when I’d reached everything I wanted to reach, or at least tried everything I wanted to try. So began this feeling of what’s next? I can’t hide that the desire to raise a family became strong, because I was 33. But the idea of a project with no climbing was also not an option. So I wanted to bring these pieces together – an opportunity to share values and meet new communities.

The events of September 2023, when the tragic earthquake happened in Morocco, obviously changed the direction of not just the story or the film, but your lives in many ways.
If you look back, we [with Jérémy] created this project in 2020 because I was inspired by the Swiss association Climb Aid. I went to Lebanon twice in a truck and we climbed in Syrian refugee camps. That was such a powerful experience for me; I wanted to find something similar. To have the tool of a climbing wall on the side of a truck. So we did our first trip by the end of 2021: four months in Romania and Greece. That was the first time with our truck, Andrea, all finished.

We climbed with a very poor community in Romania – a life-changing trip. At the end of it, I got pregnant. That wasn’t really planned, and as you have seen in the film, we had some troubles in the beginning [with baby Lia’s health].Then we left for our second big trip to Morocco.

I wouldn’t say that we had a clear storyboard. It’s much more organic – like we are in the flow of travelling. We pick destinations, countries, or regions we really want to travel to and then we just meet people on the road.

That’s what happened in Morocco. I mean, an earthquake obviously was not planned, but we were there. And we didn’t want a disaster to make us think, ‘This could be too hard. Let’s go somewhere else’. We prefer to think, ‘We’re here, and we can help’.

When you become parents your whole concept of self, your priorities, totally reverse. Your kids come first. In Morocco I had this strong urge to help. I almost forgot that we are family, and we are slow, and we have to take care of our daughter. Will she be in danger or not? I think this is the biggest life lesson of parenting, that you are at the back of the line.

When you’re a hardcore athlete you always think about yourself! Your performance and what could you do better and what can you change – then suddenly you’re parents and that all goes to shit.

I have some friends who are pro climbers, James Pearson and Caroline Ciavaldini. They both feel like they’ve become better climbers since becoming parents. Now when they climb, their precious time is so hyper-focused that they are performing better than they did when they weren’t sleep deprived!
I’m lucky my two kids sleep so well. Our second is just three months old, so I’m still in the beginning of going back to a normal body or normal performance level – if it even comes back. Yes, making the best of the short amount of time you do have is the key to success. But if you don’t do it in the spare hour that you have, it’s not that you failed. It’s not frustrating because the time you have with your kids is so beautiful. And allowing yourself to miss some sessions is beneficial.

For a woman, it can be physically demanding because it has such a huge impact on your body. My second birth was hardcore. So it’s a bit frustrating to see that change. But when you look at the opportunity to spend time outdoors with your kids, it’s great.

You mentioned in the film that Lia is opening doors socially…
We arrive in such a colourful truck, then we open a door and have a little child in our arms. People are amazed. Being a family travelling really opens doors, and now we have two kids we want to travel even more.

As an athlete, it’s a tough step to realise when the end of your hardcore performing time comes, but having kids doesn’t mean that you can’t perform any more. There are so many parameters you can adjust and evolve.

It is hard to know when to take the next step. Do you want to stop being a public persona, stop trying to perform, and just climb? That’s what many people do. Or do you take this knowledge and bring it to somewhere else without frustration – because, especially for former competitors, it’s hard to see other people performing well!

I’ve read in the past that you wanted to climb the hardest multi-pitches in the world, routes from the book Nouvelles Parois de Légende, the classics in every region. But because that’s maybe the most time consuming of all the climbing genres, do you think you’ll turn into a boulderer now?
We’ve only chosen Fontainebleau now because I was so exhausted I just needed something easy. No, I still see a life of adventure and climbing, but more family-orientated adventures.

We will choose to go to more unexplored regions or less-developed regions, because I’ve only opened two routes in my life! Before, I was a typical climbing consumer being served routes on a plate. Now I think less about consuming and more about human-based experiences.

It doesn’t sound like you’re motivated to get back to any particular level or grade. I think Mind Control (8c/+) in Oliana was your highest graded route, and there’s no desire in you to say, ‘Right, I’m a Mum now, but I want to get back to where I was.’
So the thing is honestly when I had Lia, my first kid, that was exactly my goal. I had my kid and felt the urge to get back to my strongest level as soon as I could.

And that’s what I did. A year later, I climbed an 8b+ multi-pitch in Switzerland. I needed that because I wasn’t ready for something else yet. And then I told Jérémy I wanted to have a second kid. He said, ‘Look Nina, your world for the next year will not be about getting back to performance, it will be kids management.’ And he was right – but it’s worse! So now I don’t allow myself to say that in five years I will be back to my best level. I just try to stay grounded, and to have goals that allow me to be a good mother first.

I try to avoid frustration because the life we have is so good. We can spend so much time outdoors. But in a couple of years I wish to be able to go back to a big wall and spend several days there – because this is also what I live for.

Speaking of big walls, I wanted to ask you about your partnership with Lynn Hill.
We went to The Nose in 2018 and 2019. She said, ‘You’re strong, you can do it. It’s not a big deal.’ But then we tried Changing Corners [which Lynn Hill originally climbed free in 1993] and there was no way. I think that for her it was really eye-opening how hard that thing is – but she believed for a couple of days that it would still go.

She realised why just a handful of people have free climbed it since [its first ascent]. Once she realised she couldn’t do it any more, she gave all her power to supporting me so that I would have the best chance to free climb it.

And that was such a gift. The gift of a mother who had gone through this period when it’s about your kids and being a good person. She dedicated a whole month to me so that I could free it. And the same the year after – she dedicated months of her precious time just to play and to have fun.
Of course she still free climbed many pitches, because so many are just 5.6 or 5.7s and no big deal. But the rest of the time in 2019 we stayed on the wall. I tried four days in a row on Changing Corners and she was not climbing.

I read you onsighted 27 out of 32 pitches, is that right?
Yes. On the seventh day – my fourth day in a row on Changing Corners – I was on my way to grab the last jug, and my foot slipped. It was such a frustration but ultimately I couldn’t do any better. The Great Roof fitted me pretty well. It didn’t take me so long to free. But I did not manage to free Changing Corners.

Will you go back?
I was so dedicated to this route, almost obsessed, and trying this with Lynn – who went through parenting and all that stuff to evolve her own career – I think it was what I needed. The Nose was the last big climb I really wanted before I told myself I’d settle down.

It didn’t work, but I think I needed this outcome to break out of the cycle of ‘what’s next?’ –always more, always harder. Because if you always succeed, it’s easy. Everyone celebrates you and gives invitations to show films and give interviews, but if you don’t succeed there’s suddenly nothing. I really needed this feeling of you’re a loser who dedicated almost four years to this route. I couldn’t imagine trying harder, and I was as fit as I’d ever been, and I was on the top of my career.

It was such a rich experience. I learned from The Nose what I had to learn – and even now I feel no need to go back. Because if [I had succeeded] I might not have my two kids, I might still be hanging somewhere – maybe on the Dawn Wall. I might be an even better climber, but I would still be alone and I would not be seeing my kids riding a bike in a campground.

I don’t know if I’m a better person, but it helped me to evolve my career and not just push and push.

Where are you headed next?
The goal for this year is just to travel until mid-November. Stay a bit in France, just breathe a little. Later in the year we’ll go to Poland and Croatia. This year the goal is really to find a balance with the family and get back outdoors to climb to enjoy. Then when we come back, we’ll finish the truck.

Jérémy has to work in winter, but then next spring or summer we’ll try to hit the road for two years. Our goal is to travel to the middle of Asia.

When I told some of my climber friends I was interviewing you, one of them said: ‘Ask her what her favourite snack is when she goes climbing.’
I love the mix of salted almonds and dry grapes. I love this mixture of taste in my mouth. Of salt and sweet. Then maybe with a fresh apple. That’s perfect.