Meet Shamus. He's redefining paraclimbing in Canada

Shamus Boulianne easily makes his way up the wall at Gneiss Climbing, taking a path that most newcomers would only see from the ground.

The bouldering competitor is no different on the wall than anyone else, despite having to overcome more than most.

Boulianne was born with Ectrodactyly; also known as split hand malformation, which essentially leaves his right hand with only two fingers, or disarticulated digits.

“There’s people who are a lot more limited than me,” he told Kelowna10. “I still have a wrist. I can still pick things up. So, it’s really been maybe less of a limitation than people think.”

When not working as a software developer, he can be found bouldering at least three days a week.

Boulianne tried traditional weightlifting before discovering his newfound passion. However, he was losing motivation due to the challenge of exercising both sides of his body without being able to grip bars effectively.

A friend introduced him to rock climbing and he soon discovered he could grab the holds with his right hand and pull his own weight like never before.

“After my first session, I was sore in so many places I had never been before and I was like, ‘well, this is it. Like, this is the way to get strong.’” he said. “I had been losing motivation for a while, so it was a blessing to find that for sure.”

In bouldering, the difficulty of a climb is measured on the V scale. The higher the V, the more challenging the ascent is.

Boulianne was scurrying up several V6s with relative ease when Kelowna10 caught up with him.

In 2021, he was introduced to the competitive side of climbing. In Los Angeles, he challenged himself at the Paraclimbing World Cup.

He competed against individuals who are blind, missing limbs, or had spinal issues, and said the vibe was “incredible.”

“There’s so many people there who are disabled or are being told they’re disabled their whole life,” he said. “But when you’re there with everyone competing, it just feels like you can do anything.”

Because rock climbing is an individual sport, Boulianne said it’s very empowering because ultimately, you’re competing against yourself and setting new personal limits.

Next week, Boulianne is competing again at the Paraclimbing World Cup, this time in Salt Lake City, Utah. He’s in a team with five athletes, the largest group Canada has ever sent.

His hope is to improve upon his performance from last year and grow the sport of paraclimbing.

Coming from a world cup competitor who didn’t allow any limitations to hold him back from finding his passion, the advice to ‘try’ carries with it a powerful message.

“Don’t go into anything assuming you can’t do it because you will surprise yourself,” Boulianne said. “There’s always a way to adapt and it’s better to find out you can’t do it than to have never tried to begin with.”