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Alannah Yip and Em Pellerin Talk Climbing in Squamish

The Arc'teryx Climbing Academy is running clinics, presentations and films this week

The Arc’teryx Climbing Academy is taking place this week in Squamish. The event was cancelled last year due to Covid, but is taking advantage of looser health restrictions this year.

There’s less happening than at previous Academies, but the number of people who attended the first night of shows far surpassed the number of past events. Hundreds of climbers filled the downtown park.

The first presentation was to acknowledge that we have the privilege of taking part in the event on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied, traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Watuth), Stó:lō, Shíshálh (Sechelt) and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nations of the Coast Salish peoples. The evening opened with traditional dance from the Squamish Nation.

After a short presentation by the Squamish Access Society, where they talked about the history of local parks and more, Olympian Alannah Yip took the stage. She shared experiences from Tokyo, and how Covid challenged her to think outside the box to continue her training and preparation.

After Yip spoke, Emilie Pellerin took over to talk about her send of La Zébrée 5.14 trad, before a film that showed her climbing it. In Alexa Fay’s directorial debut, she teamed up with Pellerin to create Em, which features Pellerin on La Zébrée and The Shadow 5.13 in Squamish. The final talk of the night was local crusher Tim Emmett on his trips abroad and on local 5.14 lines.

The Alpinist, a film on Marc-Andre Leclerc, has its world premiere tonight at the Pavilion Park in Squamish. It will surely be an emotional evening. We’ll have a full event wrap-up next week.

 

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