ALLISON VEST CLINIC - BOARD TRAINING ON THE TB2

Allison came by climbing honestly. At age 4 she would climb on the monkey bars in such excess that she would trudge home after pre-school with her hands bleeding from the blisters. Her father identified a natural attraction to the sport and did a quick internet search for the nearest climbing gym which marked the beginning of a 15-year obsession with competition climbing.

Growing up in the Canadian Rockies, she focused on her competition climbing ultimately winning two Open Bouldering National Champion titles and one Lead title. As she moved farther into adulthood, she began to realize that her obsessive personality and her reluctance to let things go was causing stagnation in competitive career. Slowly, and with a bit of luck and timing, she began to realize that her personality and mentality were better suited to projecting hard boulders outside.

In her first real effort to send some hard boulders, she sent her first V10, V11, and V12 on the same weekend. 6 months later she became the first Canadian woman to send V13 with her ascent of The Terminator in Squamish, BC. After moving to Utah in 2020, she officially stepped back from competitions and continued to seek out hard lines, resulting in First Female ascents of boulders like Blackout (V13), Masterpiece (V13), and Army of the Dead (V13) in Joes Valley. In February 2022, she became the first Canadian woman to send V14 with an ascent of Show Your Scars in Ogden, UT.

Her second favorite passion is training for climbing, and more specifically, hangboarding. Once she started delving into hangboarding, she realized it was her superpower and has since posted world class weighted one arm hang numbers including holding 100lbs on a 22mm edge.

Allison is driven by the way climbing intertwines and unites femininity and strength, two attributes that have socially and historically been at odds with one another. Through her poetry and authenticity, she hopes to inspire the next generation, and especially women and girls, to be proud of their strength, to fight for their dreams, and to be true to themselves.

Accomplishments:

• First Canadian woman to climb V13 (The Terminator, Squamish)

• First Canadian woman to climb V14 (Show Your Scars, Ogden)

• First Female ascent Throwin the Houlihan 5.14, Wild Iris

• Three time Canadian National Champion