TBP 207 :: Allison Vest on Transitioning from Comp Climbing to Rock Climbing
Allison Vest is a 27-year-old climber who lives in Salt Lake City. She\u2019s originally from Minnesota and moved to Canada when she was 7, where she fell in love with climbing. She had a lot of success competing as a Canadian, winning the Canadian Bouldering Nationals in 2018\xa0and 2020 and winning Canadian Lead Nationals in 2019.
In August 2019, Allison became the first female Canadian climber to send V13 when she did\xa0The Terminator\xa0in Squamish, which you can watch a video about\xa0here. She\u2019s since done 4 more V13\u2019s. This February, she became the first female Canadian climber to send V14 when she did\xa0Show Your Scars\xa0in Ogden, Utah.
She\u2019s known for her hilarious antics on\xa0Instagram, but also for her huge ape index (+7), which at 5\u20196\u2033 makes her reach the same as a 6\u20191\u2033 person.
Allison was recently\xa0featured on Tyler Nelson\u2019s Instagram (@c4hp)\xa0because Tyler tested her one-arm strength and her finger strength and said, \u201cIf I didn\u2019t see it myself, I\u2019d have trouble believing it.\u201d Basically, she\u2019s the strongest person (not just female) he\u2019s ever tested, and he was completely blown away by that.
She\u2019s kind of an anomaly, and she talks about how she\u2019s gotten so strong in this episode. She wasn\u2019t always that way.
Last year she decided to take a break from competition climbing to focus on climbing outside, so I wanted to talk with her about why she\u2019s taking that break, how that transition has been, whether she misses comp climbing, and what the differences are in her training and performance tactics between outside and indoor climbing.
She\u2019s also been vocal on social media recently about body image insecurities, and I thought it was incredibly brave of her to come out with\xa0this post on Instagram. She started it with, \u201cI always worried that I didn\u2019t look enough like a fitness model to be a professional athlete, and have been self conscious of the fact that I don\u2019t have a resting six pack.\u201d We talked about that and the response she\u2019s gotten to her vulnerability online.
We also talked about eating disorders among competition climbers and what, if any, responsibility the IFSC or other climbing organizations have in helping climbers or disqualifying them from competitions.
We talked about so much\u2026 wow. I also got to ask her about her mindset in competition climbing vs outdoor climbing and how she deals with being a person who wears her heart on her sleeve (I can relate).
I loved this talk \u2013 I\u2019m a huge fan of Allison\u2019s and I was grateful for the chance to get to know her a bit. I hope you love it too :)\xa0
\xa0 Allison Vest Interview Details- Why she\u2019s taking a break from comp climbing and how it\u2019s going
- What she thinks about FFA\u2019s
- What she\u2019s had to learn in transitioning to outdoor climbing
- How the gymnastic style of comp climbing translates to outdoor bouldering
- Mental differences between comps and outdoor projects
- What her coach taught her about spiraling mentally
- What sets her apart physically and mentally from other climbers
- Her thoughts on her physical strength feats
- Body image issues and how she\u2019s successfully dealing