With the 2017 BC Bouldering Provincials this weekend, we thought we would go ahead and do two interviews to kick things off. The past few years has seen a number of competitors jump back on the competition scene and this year we saw local climber JJ Mah make it back to podium a number of times this season. Growing up in North Vancouver, JJ started climbing at The Edge Climbing Centre under the tutelage of Andrew Wilson and Mike Doyle. Despite being part of such a strong group, JJ has always stood out because of his smooth climbing style and flawless technique. We are so psyched to check in with JJ before this weekend and here is what he had to say.
JJ Mah. Photo bu Alex Fricker ©
Hi JJ, thanks for taking the time to chat with us. How are things going?
Hey Tim no problem at all! Things are going really well. I’m unfortunately nursing a bit of a tweaked knee but other than that I can’t complain.
Shoot! What happened?
I’ve unfortunately had bad knees for quite a while. Heel hooks are my worst enemy these days.
It has been a while since you competed in a BC Bouldering Provincial. How are you feeling coming into the weekend?
I’m pretty excited! I think it’s going to be a really fun event at an amazing brand new facility. Brock, Adam and Tara totally nailed it. Simon Parton, route setting wizard, is the head setter for the comp so we can expect top notch problems.
It’s definitely been a while since I’ve competed. This is my first year back competing and climbing after 9 years. Before this fall, the last competition I was seriously training for was the World Youth Championships in Sydney, Australia in 2008.
Photo courtesy of Shane Murdoch ©
You used to be a permanent fixture in the climbing community as a youth and then took a bit of time off from climbing. Can you tell us why you took time away from climbing and what brought you back?
It was a combination of a few things but mostly school, work, a career change, and more school. I climbed competitively for about 10 years on the Canadian Youth National team, coached by Andrew Wilson and Mike Doyle. After studying cinematography and lighting, I worked as a lighting tech on TV series, commercials and feature films like Mission Impossible 4 and Godzilla. I loved working in film, but 60-70 hour work weeks totally consumed my life and before it I knew it I hadn’t climbed in five years and was really tired. At the time my sister Katie, also a climber from the Edge days, was just wrapping up her industrial design degree at Emily Carr and was interviewing for a job at Arc’teryx.
I hadn’t considered that I could combine my love for climbing and work. I applied for design school and before I knew it I had a degree, was still really tired, and hadn’t climbed in nine years.
Things have come full circle now. I started training on the Base 5 team with Andrew Wilson and Len Chong in the fall, actually with a lot of the old Edge crew and I’m now a design assistant at Arc’teryx on the alpine apparel team. Field testing gear is a big part of our design process which makes life-work balance pretty easy. I just recently went on a ice-climbing trip to Canmore to test some new products I worked on.
Getting a few routes in a Potosi. Photo by Linda Kinsky ©
You were a part of that original edge team that included Sean McColl, Will Stanhope, Matt Johnson etc. What was it like those days at the edge?
Those were definitely fun days. We had a super tight knit community with some of the strongest climbers in Canada training out of that gym. But really it was mostly doing back-flips off stuff and unsupervised shenanigans.
What was it about the program that Andrew (Wilson) and Mike (Doyle) were running that made everyone such a great climbing?
Andrew worked really hard to create an atmosphere where training didn’t feel like hard work. We all pushed each other because we were genuinely having fun and we loved to be there. Mike on the other hand made us all cry. Actually this Christmas, Sean McColl, Jamie Chong and I went down to Red Rocks to visit Mike. One night we fondly recounted all the times Mike made multiple teenage boys cry.
Playing around on Meadowlark Lemon (v12). Photo by Sean McColl ©
In Climbing, we rarely talks about style like skateboarding or surfing, but you really have a smooth style to your climbing. Is that intentional or something that just came about?
Before I started climbing, I did gymnastics and trampoline for 4 years. So from quite an early age I had that spatial awareness beaten into me. Although I do think it’s more likely that my climbing style is a result of having a child-sized body and having to desperately rely on technique and efficiency to get up anything.
Now that you are back into the competition scene, what has changed from being a youth and how has your approached changed to these type of events?
My priority these days are just to have fun and not explode with injuries. What I have enjoyed most about getting back into climbing this year is being back in the community and hanging out with old friends.
Are there a few specific things you are doing to reduce injuries?
One of the things I’ve been working on is lower body flexibility and shoulder stability. Andrew and Chris Hinton at PISE have built the team individualized programs to focus on weaknesses and imbalances. Len Chong, our coach/physio, has been key in preventatively working out any kinks we come across.
I wanted to ask you a bit about your training program. Is it the same as when you were a youth or are you focused more on periodization and specific areas of weakness?
The program is actually quite similar in terms of periodization. Sure there are different drills but Andrew and Mike were definitely ahead of the time. Our programs are much more individualized now. It’s really cool to see people from the sports science world starting to take an interest in climbing (ie. Eva Lopez’s research). The setting style in competition climbing has also completely changed since I competed last, especially in bouldering. Dynamic coordination has been one area we’ve all been working on.
Do you think the efforts you put in as a kid make training easier as an adult or is it all about motivation?
I think it’s a bit of both. The movement skills and technique I developed when I was younger has been the most useful coming back now. You can muscle up anything but when you’re maxing out at your limit I find you have to fall back on climbing smarter and using good technique.
Photo by Sean McColl ©
Do you think your indoor psych will bring back some outdoor psych this season?
This year my main goal is to get back in shape, so I can push myself harder on trips. A lot of my coworkers are frustratingly fit and we push each other to get out more and go further. I’m still adjusting to the early morning ski touring missions before work.
Finally, any chance we will see the cinematic style of JJ Mah in a future climbing film or have you put down the camera for now?
I actually have doing a little work with the video team at Arc’teryx but at the moment design is my focus!
Thanks again JJ! Good luck this weekend and all the best!
