ACA Board Profile

PRESIDENT

Mark lives in Okotoks and climbs out of the Calgary Climbing Center with his family. He was first introduced to climbing about 27 years ago in Saskatoon, where he and his friend went to Vic's Vertical Walls. Just before graduating with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1996, he had his first experience climbing on real rock on his first trip to Red Rocks, Nevada. After that, he decided to move to Calgary for the climbing and engineering opportunities. When he moved, he took out a $2000 loan and spent $200 of that on new climbing gear. 12 years later, his two-year-old daughter, Sydney, began to take an interest in climbing. A few years later, his son, Seth, began climbing as well. As a family, they would spend a lot of time at the climbing gym and his kids would watch the youth teams train in awe. When his kids started competing, he began volunteering as a judge at the competitions. The competitions weren't just volunteering, but a social event to connect with the community and be a proud parent. Over the years, he got more involved in volunteering and was asked by the ACA board at the time to join as the Technical Chair. His father was very involved in the hockey community and he always looked up to his dedication, so taking on a role on the ACA board was a huge honour. Now as President of the ACA, he is grateful for all the volunteers before that brought the ACA to where it is today. He is proud to stand on the shoulders of those giants and hopefully help the ACA take the next big step as climbing makes its debut in the Olympics this summer

VICE PRESIDENT

Rob is Vice President on the Alberta Climbing Association board. He is based out of Edmonton and can often be found judging or being the Jury President for youth competitions. Rob got involved in organized climbing several years ago when his daughters Grace and Lauryn started to compete, and it has become a family affair with Rob, Lori and his girls competing across Alberta and beyond. Rob is now in his second year on the ACA board, works for Alberta Health Services when not involved in climbing, and enjoys being in the mountains and decompressing at the gym.

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Adam has been climbing for over 35 years and climbs out of the Bolder Climbing Community in Calgary. This is his first year on the ACA board. His kids have been competitively climbing for five years and he is an active volunteer at competitions. He loves the diverse representation of climbers that are part of the ACA, from Cranbrook all the way to Saskatoon. The volunteer spirit seen at ACA competitions makes each event a rewarding and fun experience for him. He is looking forward to a rapid return to competition, seeing new faces joining the ACA as the sport expands, and hopefully to a great year spurred on by the excitement of the Olympics!

SECRETARY

Shayne lives in Saskatoon and is part of the Gripit climbing community. This is his third year on the ACA board as the Secretary. Seven years ago, his family was introduced to competitive climbing. He has two daughters who compete in the ACA competition season and have competed at the national and international level. The welcoming community in Alberta has had his family packing bags almost every second weekend from October to May to attend the climbing competitions in Alberta. In 2019, his kids averaged 35,000 kilometers in climbing travel each. He is looking forward to the upcoming ACA competition season and seeing all the climbers from both provinces coming together again.

TECHNICAL CHAIR

Sylvain lives in Canmore and climbs out of Elevation Place and Bolder Climbing Community. Originally from Mascouche, Quebec, he moved to the Bow Valley in 1993 to pursue climbing. He has done all kinds of climbing for 35+ years as well as backcountry skiing, backpacking and mountain biking. He managed a climbing store in Banff in his early years and later on, after marrying (2001) his wife and outdoor adventure partner, Ann (originally from Regina), went on to become a Red Seal Journeyman carpenter (graduated SAIT in 2009). In 2019, he became a National Construction Safety Officer (NCSO).

Sylvain is the new ACA Technical Chair and holds other volunteering positions as a CEC National Judge and is part of the CEC eLearning Judging Education Working Group. He got involved as a judge for the ACA in 2014 when his daughter, Alexa, started competing as a Youth D athlete. He was taken under the mentorship of Trevor Mallett, Bob MacDonald and Pat Fricker early on. His involvement with the ACA has flourished ever since that first responsibility was given. Being fair, friendly and professional has been his mantra ever since he started in the “Best Seat in the House”. Since 2014, he has been involved at Provincial and National events in the capacity of Judge, Head Judge and JP several times. He has been involved in every event his daughters (Lea and Alexa) have competed in. His home gym was Elevation Place in Canmore, but now his daughters train on the Bolder youth team in Calgary. His family loves the community within the ACA and beyond. It’s like an extended family and since then, they have made long standing friendships. He is looking forward to seeing all the great athletes getting together to rekindle friendships while crushing at the Provincial, National and International stages.

ATHLETE REPRESENTATIVE

Alyssa is a competitive climber from Calgary and represents the Calgary Climbing Center. She has been climbing and competing for 13 years and has been one of the ACA athlete reps since 2017. She has had the opportunity to travel the world to compete in multiple Youth World Championships and Open Bouldering World Cups, placing in the top 10 at Youth Worlds in her last year as a Junior athlete. Her favourite thing about the climbing community is how supportive climbers are of each other in competitions. Climbers will cheer for each other and want to see competitors succeed, even if it bumps them down in the rankings. When she is not competing, you can find her training at the gym or bouldering outside in the Bow Valley. She is looking forward to training and competing this fall when competitions can safely start up again and watching climbing in the Olympics for the first time.

ATHLETE REPRESENTATIVE

Mark lives part-time in Calgary and Kelowna, climbing out of Calgary Climbing Center and Gneiss Climbing. He has been volunteering as the ACA athlete rep for the past three years. He first got involved with the ACA to learn about the fees, organization and structure and wanted to be in a position to help voice concerns and advocate on behalf of athletes in the community. Mark started climbing at the start of university and he has been climbing ever since. He began to climb outside and then got interested in competitions. Despite Alberta being such a big province, he finds the climbing community to be tight-knit and has a small-town vibe. It is great to see familiar faces across the province, whether that is at competitions, outside at the crag or at a weeknight session at the gym. He thinks there is going to be a lot of energy and psych leading into the season, with some new and old faces coming together in the community. He believes this will be a pivotal year for competition climbing with lots of newcomers joining the competition season.

PERFORMANCE CHAIR

Paige Boklaschuk is a climber and coach at the Calgary Climbing Centre. She was a member of the Canadian youth and senior national team for several years and had the opportunity to climb at world cups and youth world championships. She is currently studying Kinesiology at the University of Calgary and is conducting a climbing exercise physiology research project. Paige is also involved in athlete advocacy work and believes in the importance of community, opportunity, and structure to allow individuals to reach their athletic potential. She is looking forward to taking on the role of Performance Chair and being a part of an organization that her dad (Brett) spend many weekends volunteering for.

MEMBER AT LARGE

Nicole was born and raised in Edmonton, has a Bachelor of Physical Education from the University of Alberta

and has been working for the City of Edmonton in the areas of sport, recreation and festival and event

management for over 30 years. Nicole is the Director of Civic Events and Festivals for the City of Edmonton

and has considerable major multisport and event bid and delivery experience.

Nicole is new to the sport of climbing having started judging in 2022, when at the end of the pandemic, her twin

sons started competing. She looks forward to learning about everything that goes on behind the scenes to

deliver a seamless competition and ensure athletes have the opportunity to perform at their best.

COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

After being dragged to a climbing gym with a friend in the Covid era, Jeremy instantly fell in love with the sport and the community. He started to bring his kids to join in on the fun. It wasn’t long before his kids expressed interest in joining a team and competing.

Volunteering at ACA competitions has been an incredibly rewarding experience. Meeting the other organizers, learning more about the sport, and helping athletes reach their potential has become his new favorite hobby.

Jeremy is constantly amazed by the climbing community. Athletes cheering on their competitors, volunteers donating hundreds of hours of their time, and the overall positivity make this sport truly unique.

He’s looking forward to help the ACA provide an improved membership experience.