CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

October of 2018 seems like it just slipped right through my fingers. Especially after an earlier than expected end to my cyclocross season, it was stupid. I forgot to register for the race! I was up studying late on Oct 11, Thursday. For those that don’t know the registration for the race happening on the weekend usually closes the Thursday at mid night and while I was studying then by the time I realized I need to register it was already close to 1am. The next weekend’s race was in Calgary but I had midterms coming up and I had a lot more studying left to do so I didn’t go. That was it, a short season for me indeed with only 5 races, but it just motivated me for next year so I would be actually fit and take advantage of the few opportunities I will have to race.

During the week, I’m usually fairly busy trying to balance a full course load in university, working 20+ hrs a week, attempting to train, along with trying to have at least a resemblance of a social life. Busy is good, it makes me feel like I’m getting shit done. But sometimes it just gets to a point of chaos, where you’re trying to organize and get so much shit done that everything turns into a mess. Next thing you know the days are blending together and even the weekend doesn’t give you the salvation you need to re-organize your life and get your shit together. That’s exactly what October felt like to me. So, I was really happy to have the opportunity to go back out to the mountains on the last weekend of October with the University of Alberta Outdoors Club (UAOC) after a 5-week absence.

Jasper would be our stomping grounds for the weekend, we stayed at Athabasca Falls HI hostel where it was a little way down the Ice Fields Parkway isolated from anyone else allowing us to be as loud and obnoxious as we wanted to be. Saturday morning everyone made their breakfast of choice, for me a perfect balance of efficiency and comfort in the form of a cup noodle, we all gathered our needs for the day and split into the two groups. One would be attempting to summit Cinquefoil Mountain between the town of Jasper and Miette hot springs, other would be attempting Wilcox Pass giving people an incredible vantage point overlooking the Columbia Icefield further down the Ice Fields Parkway. I decided to join the attempts for Cinquefoil Mountain I had attempted it earlier this year but had to turn around due to some unforeseen issues.

The trail head is a small paved parking space, barely big enough for more than 8 cars unmarked, no signs, not even a trash bin. For many passing tourists they would have no clue what it was for, but for us it was the doorstep to another great adventure. The trail starts off with an mellow stroll in the forest passing by a lake which had dried up over the summer months, now just a clearing giving us a clear view of our objective, Cinquefoil Mountain. As we meandered through the forest we all the suddenly came to a steep pitch in the trail, within a few meters taking us above the tree’s greeting us with already amazing views of the surrounding mountains.

From that point was a constant uphill gradient, slowly but surly gaining elevation, each step taking us closer to the summit. The trail was completely exposed on the side of a mountain, it provided us with unprecedented views we didn’t have to fight through the forest for hours to earn our views, as far as I was concerned the suffer : reward ratio was in our favour. But, the only downside to the exposure was, well, exposure. The wind howling through the valley kept us on our toes, occasional gusts would be strong enough to make me take a side step just to not fall over. As with traveling with any group we slowly splintered into smaller group consisting of varying pace’s up the mountain, as long as no one was on their own I saw nothing wrong with that. As we gained elevation my fears of having to trudge through waist deep snow never came to, the worst of it was maybe 5 cm deep snow with a little bit of ice hidden underneath but nothing to warrant my micro spikes coming out.

By the time I had reached the false summit looking up towards the summit I found myself with Jason, a friend whom I trusted. I had met him on the Kananaskis Kickoff trip where we both stood on top of Midnight Peak, I knew his skills were above and beyond to make the summit. In a moment of fear that if we waited for everyone to reconvene again we wouldn’t have enough time for a summit bid we decided to keep moving. Now, looking back I realize it probably wasn’t the greatest idea but since quitting hockey I’ve never been much of a team player. We made decent time through the lower sections, but the crux was the last 300-400m to the summit, what was supposed to be a slog up some loose scree became a bit more of an exposed scramble due to the snow/ice that had accumulated on the exposed scree. From afar the section seemed much more daunting than what it really was, we were both comfortable with the exposure and nowhere did we ever feel out of our comfort zones. With proper planning and route finding we managed to find an easy line to the top, I was able to climb the route with my DSLR still in one hand.

The summit was incredible, the feeling, the views, the experience. But as we crested the summit we realized it was only the start of the Jacques Range with yet another higher peak in sight I was tempted, but with the rest of the group opting to not follow us to the summit we didn’t want to fall to far behind. Another peak had been checked off of my summit’s list but at the same time an entire mountain range was added to the list. Jason and I made quick work of the descent making sure we followed the exact route we took up down, we moved efficiently with ease. The descent was a victory lap, with still incredible views all the way down we made quick work of the trail.

On the way back to our hostel we indulged in an delicious cup of mocha from a Jasper staple Bear Paw Café, after a quick stop to pay respects to Pyramid Mountain (Probably one of my favorite looking mountain ever) we made our way back. The night at the hostel started from an delicious group meal organized by our incredible UAOC executive team. Then the socializing began, with lots of new friends being made through the common experiences of school, love of outdoors, and adventures from earlier in the day. It’s amazing how so many people on the same hike, same trail, same time can have such diverse perspectives and experiences.

The next morning was a bit of a slower start to the day with many nursing their sore bodies from an adventure filled day before, as a group we made our way to Athabasca falls a Jasper national park staple. I’m usually not a fan of very touristy places especially if the “trails” are paved but it was nice to run around with my new-found friends especially when the place wasn’t absolutely crowded with tourists. I actually have a photo of my parents from the first time they visited Jasper well over 20 years ago standing in front of the illustrious Athabasca falls. Unfortunately for us the good weather only stuck around for Saturday as the low hanging clouds blocked the view of the mountains from Athabasca falls, as we all said our good byes and crawled into our cars for the 4 hour drive back to Edmonton we were slowly pulled back to reality. Every single road sign we passed we were reminded of the rapid approach to Alberta’s capital. Rolling into the city the gloomy sky, flat landscape, and crappy traffic kicked me right back into reality. By 9am the next morning I found myself sitting in a lecture hall again day dreaming of where I was, or where I could be.