Alex Megos and Tim Emmett Entertain at Canmore Climbing Fest
The Canmore Climbing Festival had a sold-out second show with nearly 300 climbers in the audience. The evening began with Sonnie Trotter giving a few words, which was followed by Becca Marrie and Andy Arts rappelling onto the stage. Tim Emmett took the mic for a high-octane presentation that highlighted wing-suit flying around the world, deep water soloing, first ascents and hard sends. He credited his detailed diet for sending his hardest sport, trad, mixed and ice routes in his early 40s. The powerful presentation wrapped with never-before-seen film about his and Read Macadam’s recent sends of The Path 5.14R.
During intermission, a push-up contest had about 20 strong women going head-to-head to a cheering audience. The last one to stop won the show and it went to nearly 50 push ups. For the men, about 40 people rushed to the stage, including Megos and Emmett. Andy Arts kept the count and at 86 push ups, Megos was the last one still going. He spent the day climbing 5.14 and had bloody finger tips, but it didn’t slow him down.
Megos presented for the second half of the evening. Before he began, everyone in the room sang him happy birthday, as it was his 23rd. He spoke about his early American road trip in a beat-up old van, his first experience crack climbing, meeting Daniel Woods in Kentucky and his early motivations. The tone of the show changed from a climber learning the ropes to that of the world’s best climber when he shared the story of his 5.14d flash, the first ever. He detailed his training routine for making the third ascent of Lucid Dreaming V15 in Bishop.
It was a top show, but to many people’s surprise it was as funny as it was hard-core. With small jokes throughout, he poked fun at Emmett saying his was “Not bad for an old guy.” And when an audience member asked if we will see Canada’s first 5.15 this summer, Megos said, “You can see it right now, go to Ravens and look up.” Megos gave no details about whether or not he will send it. But for hours before the festivities, Megos was projecting the line and made five burns. More details about the hard route later. The goal was to raise over $1,500 (the amount raised in 2015) for the Canmore Indoor Climbing Society and with dozens of jackets and other gear in a silent auction, chances are good they reached their goal. The most original auction item was a painting by Kayla Eykellboom of El Cap.
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