Turning Points

Canada’s Alannah Yip, 23, swaps climbing and engineering

- Alison Osius

When Alannah Yip of Vancouver began a study-abroad program in Switzerland two years ago, she contacted Urs Stöcker, head coach of the Swiss climbing team, through “a friend of a friend.” In what she would later refer to as the best seven months of her life, she trained with the team, made a lot of friends, and “got a lot stronger.”

“I got to train with people like Petra Klinger, Rebekka Stotz and Natalie Bärtschi,” she says. “Just getting to train with a bunch of strong girls was awesome. It was really inspiring to see how strong they are, but also that I could keep up. I realized I could do this. I just needed to get a little stronger. I needed to commit.”

Bärtschi invited Yip along on a four-week trip to Rocklands, where the Canadian visitor sent her first two V10s.

Having previously taken a year off climbing to focus on her engineering studies, Yip switched her sport back to the center in her life, came home and entered Nationals, qualified for the World Cup, and embarked upon the full circuit of events and travel. This year she became the first Canadian woman ever to make a WC finals field, in Chongqing, China.