Keeping your life in-check as a professional rock climber can be overwhelming, to say the least. Filling your days with blood, sweat, and tears from training, competition and travel leaves little time for anything else. Imagine doing everything it takes to compete at a professional level and add doing everything thing it takes to obtain a degree in engineering…sound like a lot? Not so much for SCARPA athlete Alannah Yip. She took it all on, earning plenty of medals while doing it.

Alannah has been climbing since she was 9 years old, inspired to do so by fellow SCARPA athlete, Sean McColl. After competing from ages 10-17, she hung up her climbing shoes to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. It wasn’t long before she soon realized that her life was incomplete without the sport. After a few months away from climbing, Alannah dusted off her shoes and hit the gym again with her friends. Recreational gym time quickly lead to more intense training and eventually to her re-entering the competition scene.

This past year Alannah made the finals at the Chongqing Boulder World Cup, becoming the first Canadian female to make an IFSC World Cup final. She climbed Pulse 5.14a in Cheakamus Canyon, Squamish (her first 5.14 and a FFA), and she was the 2017 Canadian Lead, Boulder, and Speed Champion and the 2018 Canadian Lead Champion at the Canadian Lead Speed Nationals. We are also very proud to announce that Alannah graduated from The University of British Columbia this spring with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Mechatronics.

After accomplishing all of the above, where does she go from here? Alannah’s future plans are to focus on climbing and continue to travel and compete in the World Cup circuit with hopes to reach Olympic heights one day. If her past few years are any indication of her future, she’s bound to accomplish whatever she sets her sights on.

Alannah is a true inspiration to us both on and off the bouldering wall. Learn more about her on her profile page: https://www.scarpa.com/community/athletes//alannah-yip. Keep your eyes on this determined and passionate climber, she’s bound to do great things!