Nadia Azad

[FOUNDATIONS]

The mountains are the outcome.

This is the work.

Not every step forward looks impressive- the pictures perched on a summit never tell the full story. Most of the steps are repetition.

The same movements. The same mistakes.

Showing up when it’s not exciting anymore. Until one day those movements are easy and there are no more mistakes.

This is the part no one really sees.

But it’s the part that matters most.

[THE POINT]

This felt closer to it. 🧗🏻‍♀️

Less between you and the line. 🪢

[2025]

I see life as a book, and the stages of our lives as chapters. This year has been one of writing new chapters — and perhaps, quietly, of closing out old storylines. 📖

In April, I turned the page within my Spain chapter, moving from my beloved Madrid to Barcelona — a new city, a new job, and the quiet work of building a life from the ground up. With no anchors or inherited friend networks, much of the year was spent grounding myself the way I always do when the change around me is considerable: through routine. Training the body, and in doing so, steadying the mind. 🧗🏻‍♀️

At the same time, another chapter resurfaced. I returned to the 8000-metre peaks after a 2.5 year absence. Manaslu felt like a gentle re-entry — familiar faces, familiar terrain, and the reassurance that my body still knows how to exist at altitude. But being back in that environment also reopened questions I’ve been carrying for some time. 🏔️

The mountains haven’t changed — but the way they’re climbed has. The scale, the cost, the commercialisation, the crowds. I find myself increasingly drawn away from heavily managed objectives and back toward more technical, self-reliant terrain — places that demand skill over logistics, judgment over infrastructure, a nimble team instead of an army opening a mountain. Because of this, I find myself at a crossroads - still wanting to retrace the steps of some of my climbing heroes who pioneered the 8000er space, but simultaneously wondering whether this chapter is nearing its natural end. 👀

Some chapters are about acceleration and pursuit; others are about consolidation and refinement. This year has been the latter. Less about chasing, more about reassessing. 💭

As the year closes, I’m less attached to fixed destinations and objectives than I once was, and more interested in paying attention to the path as it reveals itself. 🗺️

One of my favourite poets said: “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” ✍️

As I look toward 2026, I’ll be reading the next pages slowly — allowing the path to form, rather than forcing the ending. ✨

[CATALUÑA]

Every few years I try to grow in a new direction — sometimes in work, sometimes in study, sometimes in how I think, sometimes with new hobbies, and sometimes in how I move. Lately that growth has been through rock climbing. 🧗🏻‍♀️

I moved to Barcelona for work, but the region of Cataluña has been incredible for play. One day you’re settling into a new job and a new city; the next you’re hanging off a cliff learning a sport you never really paid much attention to before (while instead choosing to pursue a more frosty version of the discipline). 😅

My athletic life has always been about expanding the ways I move through and experience the world, and rock climbing has quietly joined that list. It started with showing up at the local climbing gym, learning slowly, and finding a rhythm I didn’t know I was looking for. 🧘🏻‍♀️

I’m keen to explore more of this region… vertically. 😌

[PETIT PAYS]

On Fogo, the earth still remembers the last time it broke open. 🔥

I’ve spent the past few weeks island-hopping across a new country for me — Cabo Verde — bringing my “properly visited country tally” (no stopovers or lazy cruise-ship cheats allowed) to 66. 🇨🇻

Cabo Verde sits off the coast of Senegal: ten islands, each with its own soul. I wandered through five — Santiago, Fogo, São Vicente, Santo Antão, and Sal — and quickly learned this archipelago is far more layered than its postcards suggest. The world knows Cesária Évora; fewer know the raw, volcanic heartbeat of these islands. 🏝️

For hikers and mountain lovers, Fogo and Santo Antão are the crown jewels. Fogo is all ash, lava, and black sand; Santo Antão a split personality of emerald ridges in the north and golden desert in the south. 🏜️

On Fogo, the ground crunches like glass under your boots. Lava fields ripple like frozen waves. And above it all, Pico do Fogo rises — elegant, violent, alive. 🌋

The volcano last erupted in 2014, erasing homes and forests in minutes — and yet, a decade later, the village of Portela stands rebuilt on swirls of hardened lava. The soil is fertile again. Grapes grow at the foot of an active volcano. Life returns because it must. 💪🏼

Fogo enchanted me. From exploring lava tubes to tracing the crater’s rim to climbing Pico do Fogo itself, this island felt like stepping into a world shaped entirely by fire and resilience — a reminder that landscapes, like people, rebuild after destruction and come back stronger. ✨

And maybe that’s why I travel: to find the places where nature rewrites itself, and in doing so, quietly rewrites me too. 🧘🏻‍♀️

Petit pays, but full of power. 💥

Where should ‘properly visited’ country #67 be?
And what’s your favourite underrated corner of the world? 🌍

[WORLD BEYOND]

What goes up… ⬆️

After more than two years away from the big mountains, returning to them feels like finding a piece of myself again — and a large part of that is reconnecting with the people who make it feel so familiar… people whose dreams are similar to my own. 💭

Some of them I’ve shared climbs with, others I’ve just met again on new paths, others are sources of inspiration for me - namely who shows that age has no limits. 💪🏼

Some people are the mountain — usually the Sherpas that I have climbed with — they are steady, humble, full of quiet strength. They move with purpose, carry warmth in their hearts, and make even the hardest days feel lighter. 🙏

I’ve always believed that a large part of how we perceive experiences is shaped by the company we keep during those experiences. Who is around us, how they behave, the energy they bring to the table. ✨

Grateful for the chance to cross paths again with so many friends, to keep learning from the people I meet, and to keep building a community that makes these peaks more than just places — they become places of memories built on personal connections. 🏔️

[POSTCARDS]

From the mountains. ✉️

[MOUNTAIN LIFE]

Snippets from life above the clouds, in no particular order. 😌

[FREE]

Camp life. The calm before the climb. 🏔️

Thanks for the snap 😌🙏

[MARVEL]

Nature’s canvas. 🎨

Snaps from Manaslu’s summit. 🏔️