Daisy: What’s important to know as a new mum getting back into climbing?

Caroline: “As a young mum trying to ‘come back to her sport’, you are demanding a lot of your body to train and get back to full fitness while you lack sleep, your hormones make your tendons weaker, and you’re generally exhausted and not mentally prepared. A trainer would tell you that these are perfect conditions to create an injury. So, the biggest difficulty is to train without going too far too fast.”

Daisy: How did you get your body working “normally” again after giving birth? 

Caroline: “I started with little generic exercises, like doing a lot of different arm movements with 1 kilogram weights in each hand, pull-ups with elastics and push-ups on my knees. I had no chance to have 2 hours of freedom in a row, so I kept my little weights handy in my living room and would do little bits with the baby in a baby carrier in between feeds.”

Daisy: Did you find becoming a new mum threw your identity into question? 

Caroline: “Having a kid means that suddenly you have zero free time. Even having a 5-minute shower was complicated. In general, I found the first three months extremely hard. I was quite surprised that people do manage to go through it without exploding.

“James and I were very cautious not to ask each other if we had made a bad decision… but I am pregnant again, so in the long run, we are extremely happy to be parents! Our mini one makes our life better, and he hasn’t changed who we are. Rather, he’s entered our lives and made us make changes that we believe are better. Now we appreciate little joys more. We travel slower (first it was only to handle the baby, now it’s because we have realised how much more you get to see and discover when you travel slowly), which is also important for protecting the environment too.”

“You have to know yourself. Know your body and how you feel in yourself”

Daisy: James is your climbing partner as well as life partner, how has having a child changed your relationship?

Caroline: “Nothing has really changed for climbing. We have to give each other the time to train and focus on projects, but it’s not so different from before! People think belaying is dangerous for pregnant women, but it’s not if it’s a long route with a long slow fall and you don’t make a mistake. The most important thing I think is, you have to know yourself. Know your body and how you feel in yourself. And when James would climb hard routes with dangerous belays, then we’d take friends with us.

“We started back bouldering first so that there was less risk. One of us would hold the baby while the other would boulder, which honestly made me better at bouldering. There’s no one spotting you, so you have to be strong, learn to fall better and be more aware. Then when I started climbing again, we would belay from trees using a dynamic reverso device. It’s not a textbook system, but it worked for us. When we’re a group, James and I take it in turns to climb while the other holds the baby.

“We have less time for each other, but we marvel at our child every day; we are both in this adventure hand in hand. In general, I think it’s made our life, which was already great, even better!”

Daisy: What advice would you give any new mums who are trying to get back into climbing?

Caroline: “I would simply tell them that they can do it! They just need a good support around them. Involve the dad so that he takes half of the weight, involve grandparents… You are a mum, but you are also a person, and you deserve to have your own passion!

“And get a baby tent – it’s amazing. We put Arthur in it all the time when we’re at the crag, and even at home. He loves it! It’s super light and just pops up, there’s a mattress in it so he can be comfortable to sleep, and we zip him in so he can’t go anywhere while we climb. So if there’s an emergency during bouldering you know he’s safe. He’s so comfortable now that he goes in it at home to nap.”

“You are a mum, but you are also a person, and you deserve to have your own passion”

Daisy: How do you manage risk as a new mum? Is James involved in your decision-making process?

Caroline: “James and I always discuss risk a lot together, as it is better to be two brains in thinking things through, so you have fewer chances of forgetting an element or underestimating something. Actually, when you become a mum you realise that you will never be able to suppress all risk from your child’s life: the very first time you let him go down the stairs without going down ahead to catch him in case he fell, you let him take a risk… but you also let him grow.

“Having Arthur has made me realise that life is only good if you accept that it’s risky and that things could go wrong. So I have integrated that in my climbing, accepted that I need to keep on allowing myself to take some risks in my life or remove all enjoyment from it! And this is knowledge that James and I try to teach Arthur. Life comes with risk, and he needs to learn to manage his risk-taking in his life, every step that he takes, every time he jumps off a rock, every time he climbs in a tree!”

“Having Arthur has made me realise that life is only good if you accept that it’s risky and that things could go wrong”

Daisy: Why do you choose to climb high-risk routes as mum?

Caroline: “I will never know if I am definitely right, but I think that the risks I take are calculated. Of course, a rock could fall on me if I am unlucky when I am new routing in Ethiopia, or I could hurt myself if I make a mistake and fall off a trad route… But I practice, think, check and double-check. I try to control the risk. Just like a new mum keeps on driving, but maybe she makes sure her airbags work, doesn’t drive if she is very tired… We all take risks in our lives, but sometimes we think it’s ok because everyone does it, but that doesn’t make it less risky!”

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