CODY SHIMIZU

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

Finally, after suffering through the past few weeks with midterms and papers I had the opportunity to go back to the mountains. We would be making the most of the time we have in the mountains, leaving Saturday after work staying at the Alpine Club of Canada Clubhouse in Canmore. I had awesome companions with me on this trip both of which who are a part of the University of Alberta Outdoor Club. Jason who Id met on the first trip this year at Kananaskis where we stood on top of Midnight Peak together then again on the Jasper Hostel Trip where we summited Cinquefoil Peak together. Evelyn, I met her for the first time on this trip she was awesome. With much more experience hiking then me she was great company, I am looking forward to going on more adventures with both of them.

We rolled into the Canmore Clubhouse fairly late on Saturday evening and we scoured through guidebooks and google results to choose a summit to peak, with the snow storm that’s recently hit Edmonton we decided to start of the weekend with something along the front country, somewhere down the Smith-Dorrien Spray Trail. After some looking around we decided upon the Rimwall, it would give us a great view of the Windtower, Three Sisters and the marvelous Spray Lakes Reservoir.

RIMWALL

After a quick breakfast we drove down the quiet main street of Canmore, only Rocky Mountain Bagel Co bustling with the locals picking up their morning coffee. We travelled carefully over the bumpy roads of Smith-Dorrien Spray trail, 40 minutes later we reached the trail head, shared with many other adventures such as West Wind Pass and Windtower. We quickly strapped our snowshoes onto our packs and we started our trek. We had to find our way through a web of trail until the trail started getting steeper. As we got higher and higher the views of the Spray Reservoir was incredible as we slowly got teasers through the trees. After about an hour of moving at a good pace we broke above the treeline. From there was incredibly slow going with steep grades and loose scree dampening our progress. But after another hour or so of slowly chipping away towards the summit we finally reached the shoulder of the Rimwall.

It was incredible, as we got to our knees making sure we had good footing we peered our head over the edge it became very evident why this impressive peak was called the Rimwall. The otherside of the slippery slope we were climbing was a sheer face, a wall standing tall looking over the bow valley. Looking over we saw the true summit of Rimwall. Up to this point there hasn’t been a lot of snow thankfully, but from the shoulder, our traverse to the true summit was riddled with steep slopes, fair sized rock bands, and a good amount of wind swept snow. As we made our way along the traverse we hit the steep grades, with the surface of the ground slightly frozen we didn’t have the right gear, it was painful but we had to call it, it just wasn’t safe enough. We turned back, enjoyed the view from the shoulder and stared at the majestic Windtower. We made quick work of the descent and indulged ourselves with some taco’s for dinner at the Canmore Clubhouse.

Once again over dinner we decided on an easier hike, Rockbound lake, hidden behind the majestic Castle Mountain, although longer it is less technical in hopes to save our legs for Tuesday, Fairview Mountain.

ROCKBOUND LAKE

After another lovely morning, we toured through Bow Valley to the Castle junction, where another day’s adventure began. The trail was wide and well tracked, the lower part only had a little bit of snow but as we climbed higher and higher the snow got deeper. The sun was shining but it was still cold, but our freezing hand wasn’t enough to distract us from the incredible views. As we reached the first lake, it wasn’t much resemblance of a lake with it frozen over and hidden under a layer of snow. From Tower lake there was a short, steep trail leading us to Rockbound lake. It was magical. Surrounded by towering peaks with the lake a flat sheet of snow covering the lake, behind us the majestic Bow Valley.

We hung out for a bit, indulged in our snacks that we hauled up with us. Unfortunately, being in the shadows, and the cold wind sweeping past us chilled us to our bones. We made our way down with snow shoes on we were able to make quick work of the trail. Another day over with amazing views, trail and company. Topping it off with a delicious hostel cooked dinner.

FAIRVIEW MOUNTAIN

The last day of any trip is the saddest day, the thought of having to go home back to the pancake flat city I call home. But I get to forget about that for a final day that we had planned to make the most of in the mountains, the heart of the Rockies in Banff National Park, among the towering peaks surrounding Lake Louise.

We rolled up to Lake Louise and thankfully was able to find a parking spot, surprisingly not as busy as I expected. We quickly oriented ourselves and found the trail, following the signs leading to saddle mountain we made quick work of the lower trails, well-groomed, stamped with UGG boots logos which were quickly lost as we made our way along the trail. As we went along the trail we were left with only ski tracks to follow leading us up towards the saddle. As we slowly made our way up towards the saddle we were slowly teased with better and better views.

As we crested over the saddle we were graced with THE Mount Temple, it was amazing, the peak covered by snow. Shouldered by Mt Aberdeen it only got me excited for next year thinking of the goals and objectives for the summer. Looking over to our right we stared down the 1.5km and 400m separating us from the summit. It was a steep grind, with our snowshoes on we slowly zigzagged up the mountain side. With no trail to follow we broke trail and zigzagged up the mountain. We were exposed on the mountain side, with gusts blowing through the valley we would occasionally stop an crouch to avoid the snow from pelting us in the face.

After close to 2 hours slowly trudging towards the summit. We finally made it, it was incredible. Mt Victoria, Mt St Piran, surrounding us all and I thought the climb was breath taking. With the crazy wind gusts we spend less then 10min on the summit, after taking in as much of the view we quickly turned around and started working on the descent it was a slow technical descent, it took time but we didn’t want to just start running down and start falling. As we made it back to the saddle we dipped just below the treeline and quickly devoured our snacks. Then we slowly made our way down, we watched the sunset over Lake Louise Ski Resort, it was magnificent.

We wrapped up our weekend in a small restaurant eating sub-par poutine. Reminiscing already about the places we’ve explored and the views we’ve taken in. We dropped off Jason to join the UAOC trip, then Evelyn and I made the trek home back to Edmonton. Another amazing weekend making new friends exploring new places.