What Nina Williams Can’t Live Without

I wouldn’t call myself a coffee snob, but I have gone through a lot of different coffee-making items. I mainly do a pour-over. I’ve had ceramic ones, but I’ve broken two of them. My roommate from a while back is a full-on coffee snob and had the Kalita, and I was just like, Oh, this is way lighter. It doesn’t break mostly, so I can travel with it and not worry. And it makes a great cup of coffee.

It kind of looks funny, but I really like it because I can use it over clothes. So if I am on an airplane and I’m sitting down for a super long time, my hamstrings get really tight, and I can just roll my hamstrings out while I’m sitting in the chair. It just feels really good. After a day of climbing, my extensor muscles get really tight because my forearm muscles are overdeveloped, so I use it on my forearms too.

I’ve been using Gnarly products for over a decade. The chocolate protein powder tastes really good — like chocolate milk — and it blends and dissolves really well. It always helps me in my recovery, which is super important for my climbing. I’ll always drink a protein smoothie after a workout.

I’m reading it for the first time. I have a thing with reading anything where I’ll want to read it through the entire way and then I’ll read it a second time and go through and underline sections that really stand out to me. There have been multiple times reading this book where I’m like, Wow, that was such a beautiful piece of writing, or a beautiful quote, or just the way Steinbeck builds up the story or the moment, it’s incredible. I only have maybe 20 pages left in it now, but I’m already like, I have to go back and reread this. It’s one of the most beautiful books I think I’ve ever read.

The standout feature of this ball is that it’s really light and it’s quite hard. I use it a lot for my legs, and I’ll just lean against a door or a wall. I have tight quads and hamstrings, so I’ll just lean against the wall and really get some pressure points going. The 12-inch ball, which is a little bit bigger than a lacrosse ball, fits in most any type of luggage you’re travelling with.

I genuinely can’t live without this thing. One of our friends had it in Squamish two and a half years ago. If you have a mosquito bite, you take it and put the stick end on the bite and you hold it there for 30 seconds and it burns you. Okay, it doesn’t actually burn you, but it’s this intense, pretty painful burning sensation, but it burns away the itch. And then I swear to God, the mosquito bite does not itch anymore.

I’ve been wearing these for the last four or five months. You can wear them as slippers where the heel is free or you can put them into sport mode and put the heels up. They have tread on the bottom, so I’ve gone on short hikes and approaches with them, but I can stuff them in my bag if I need to wear actual approach shoes. They look a little goofy, honestly, but I kind of like it.