born in 1995, in St. Paul, Minnesota, Allison spent most of her childhood in Canadian Rockies. She began with competitive climbing at age 9. She currently lives and trains in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Career highlights:
- First Canadian woman to send V13/8B boulder: The Terminator V13/8B, Squamish, 2019
- 2x Canadian Bouldering National Champion, 2018 and 2020
- Canadian Lead Climbing National Champion, 2019
- Hardest outdoor boulders:
- The Muffler V12/8A+, Little Cottonwood, UT
- Firestorm V12/8A+, Ogden, UT
- Half Magic V12/8A+, Red Rock, NV
- flash of Maische Roof V11/8A, Salt Lake City, UT
When did you start climbing?
When I was in preschool I was always climbing on the playground. I would come home with my hands bleeding as a 5 year old. Eventually, my parents decided they had to find something to do with that energy so they looked up a climbing gym and took me there for my 5th birthday. From then on, I loved it.
What is your strength in climbing and why?
I think my strength in climbing is my finger strength. I think it is because it is something I have focused on a lot over the years. I also do really well with big moves because my arms are so long!
What is your anti style?
Lock offs with high feet. I guess, honestly, it’s just high feet in general.
Do you seek routes which don´t fit you to work on your weaknesses?
I think this is a super important aspect of training so, yes I do! In a competition, you can’t choose which boulders or routes you’re going to get so you have to be ready for anything.
Can you tell us about some powerful experience you had thanks to climbing?
Some of the most powerful moments I can remember have been when I’m training or competing somewhere in the world, and I look around and think how lucky I am to have so many strong and charismatic women to look up to and call friends. I think we all push and inspire each other to be better. Climbing really is an amazing community.
Can you name and describe the most important moments or events that changed your life so far? Both climbing-related and not.
I think moving to Vancouver to go to school in 2014 was one of the most important changes I made in my life both outside of climbing and inside of climbing. Being in Vancouver and meeting my coaches really helped me realize how far I could go if I put everything I had into training. What’s more the people that I met there and the family that I lived with truly became family to me. I know that I would not have the opportunities that I have today without them, both within climbing and beyond.
How do you cope with failure or slow progress? Where do you get your motivation?
I actually really enjoy the difficult, grungy parts of training. Of course I love competing and climbing outside too but I am also really motivated to just get better at training. When I encounter slow progress, I remind myself why I am training and that if I log the hours and keep pushing myself, I will start to see improvement again.
What is your favorite climbing story, if you have one?
One of my favorite climbing days was with my friend Andrew in Squamish. We sat down in front of this nasty, contrived, boulder called Ozzmossis V11/8A and decided that we couldn’t leave until one of us sent the boulder. What followed was a miserable and hilarious stream of dry fires and horrible conditions until I finally sent and we could go home. What could have been an extremely frustrating experience ended up being pure fun and remembering what climbing really is about.
What is your ape index?
My ape index is very, very large. It is +7 inches or almost +18cm
