EP 220: Alannah Yip
May 20, 2024
Photo by Lena Drapella
Alannah Yip is a professional climber from Canada who competed at the Tokyo Olympics. We talked about getting diagnosed with alopecia and the emotional journey of losing her hair, taking back her power, preparing for the Olympic Qualifying Series, lessons from Tokyo, mantras for slab boulders, her involvement with IFSC policies to prevent eating disorders and RED-S, her eating disorder as a teenager, why she plans to retire from comps, rock climbing goals, and much more!
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Show Notes:
Related Podcast Episodes:
References and Resources:
IFSC's Current Policy to Combat Eating Disorders
Alannah’s Links:
Instagram
OQS Updates:
Shanghai Results - Women’s Boulder and Lead
Shanghai Results - Men’s Boulder & Lead
Nuggets:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:02:11 – Alopecia
00:07:31 – Identity crisis
00:11:33 – Deciding to shave her head
00:12:55 – Taking back her power
00:19:55 – Setting it on the back burner
00:25:33 – Training camps
00:30:23 – Alannah’s coaches
00:33:47 – Training for Paris vs. Tokyo
00:39:26 – Feelings about Tokyo
00:42:08 – Lessons from Tokyo
00:44:06 – Training with other women
00:46:52 – Working on slab
00:50:10 – The Olympic Qualifying Series
00:55:00 – Olympic vs. World Cup lead style
00:59:27 – Why she quit comps during college
01:02:10 – Making the jump to World Cups
01:04:35 – Reexamining her relationship with climbing as an adult
01:08:54 – Engineering & coaching
01:11:28 – Excited to retire from comps
01:18:24 – IFSC policies to prevent eating disorders & RED-S
01:30:05 – Self-reporting & BMI
01:35:39 – Alannah’s eating disorder as a teenager
01:41:53 – The turning point
01:43:50 – Dealing with hard moments
01:45:30 – Conflicted feelings about food
01:48:13 – Alannah’s PSAs
01:50:15 – My PSA
01:53:03 – Mutual appreciation
01:55:05 – What’s next
01:56:24 – Rapid fire Qs
02:01:21 – Occasionally on Instagram
02:04:49 – Wrap up