CODY SHIMIZU

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

“You don’t know if you’d like it until you try it”. It’s a pretty good motto to live by I think. But, what if you don’t even know what you should try? That’s where I was at just over a year ago. I was talking to one of my co-workers and he had mentioned ski touring. I’ve always seen those wild Gopro videos of people plowing through waist deep snow, faces caked on a mountain side in the middle of nowhere, I always thought that the only way to access such legendary terrain was through Heli skiing. Inaccessible by us mere mortals who don’t have copious amounts of excess income. But then after doing some research on the glorious internet I learnt about a sport called splitboarding.

For the people who don’t know what splitboarding is let me just quickly break it down for you. Essentially, just take a snow board and cut it in half down the middle, that allows you to turn the board into skis. Then by putting these things called skins which is pretty much this adhesive carpet on the underside of your “skis” it allows you to turn them into cross county skis with enough grip to climb steep mountain sides and with enough flotation to not have to post hole everywhere you go. Once you’re at the top of whatever line you want to shred you put the two halves back together to turn it back into a snowboard!

Throughout the entire winter I researched and dreamt about trying this sport out. But I was invested in cycling, it was my thing. Mountain biking which is pretty much where all of my money went, I didn’t have the extra cash to invest into this new sport. If you think snowboarding itself was already expensive, back country will definitely break the bank. First, the entire splitboard set up with specific bindings, board, and skins is typically close to $2000 new. Then, to go anywhere in the backcountry where avalanches are an concern having the know how to identify the risks and mitigating them are a pretty crucial skill. So you have to take an avalanche safety training course along with avalanche safety gear which is another cool $1000 right there. As keen as I was in trying the sport I told myself I’ll get into it when I’m older, when I have the extra cash. Also, in the past few years as much as I loved snowboarding I just couldn’t justify having to spend $100 on a lift ticket every time I wanted to go it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I found myself further and further away from the sport of snowboarding.

After another awesome summer filled with fun adventures had passed and a new school year rolled around, I decided to join the University of Alberta Outdoors Club. Well, I was actually “in” the club last year but never did anything with it. So, this year it was a goal of mine to actually try and take advantage and meet some new people, be active around campus. After going on a few trips with the club I met lots of amazing people and everyone was friendly and welcoming. We all shared the same passion of the outdoors. Through talking with the people I’ve met through the outdoors club I would hear stories of people who backcountry ski regularly, along with lots of people I met who were also aspiring to try this wild sport. I just couldn’t resist anymore. But how was I going to do it on a student budget? I couldn’t afford to hire a guide, nor participate in a course. That’s where the ACC came in!

The ACC known as the Alpine Club of Canada is an organization that was established in 1906 (I think) to bring together the Canadian mountaineering community, a way for people who share a passion for exploring the mountain ranges to come together, share beta (information) and meet up with fellow adventurers. Through the University of Alberta Outdoors Club, we get a membership to the ACC Edmonton section where they run many volunteer run trips. Thankfully for me I found an intro to splitboarding trip and I send an email immediately.

The first trip was absolutely exhilarating! I almost felt cheated that the world hadn’t introduced me to this sport earlier. It was the best of both worlds, you get to hike up to an incredible viewpoint looking across vast valleys surrounded by the best peaks in the world, then snowboard down some freshly laid powder, untouched, like a blank canvas. As I put skins back on the splitboard I was renting from a friend, I would be looking at them in awe. It wasn’t just a splitboard, but rather an opportunity, just imagine the things I can do, the places it can take me. I NEED my own gear.

From the moment, I got home I was constantly checking Kijiji, Facebook, anywhere to find an affordable splitboard setup. After not too long I was sitting in my room looking at an opportunity. After talking with some close friends from the outdoors club we did the AST course together, finally the last piece of the puzzle. As the days sitting in lecture halls melded together in a haze the only thing I could think about was going splitboarding. Sitting in lecture halls my mind would drift away to atop mountains, my Instagram feed flooded with pictures of mountains and videos of powder flying in people’s faces as they carve their way down the blank slope. The only good thing that came of this was that it took my mind off the fact that I hadn’t ridden my mountain bike on dirt in months.

As the time constraints of school and work prevented me from exploring the world of splitboarding I was finally presented with an opportunity I had to seize. Reading week. As my adult coworkers and friends scoff at the idea of having a week off during school telling me how easy I have it, maybe they just don’t remember how hard it was for them or just don’t realize how much a week off means to someone like me. It was the only thing getting me through the days, waking up going to mind numbing lectures, classes I don’t really care about but I need to take to get my degree, going to work only to stress about the school work I need to get done, spending my limited free time after work studying only to be anxious about how unfit I’ve become. As days turn into weeks school keeps piling on, the bike becomes covered in dust, work keeps demanding, a week to myself is the only thing I had to look forward to.

After grinding it out the last few weeks leading up to reading week, finally. Freedom. What better place to feel the fruition of your dreams than one of the world’s most iconic roadside back country skiing, the Icefields Parkway. The entire week was a symphony of wake up, eat, drive, ski, plan, sleep, repeat. I think my friend put it perfectly. “It’s like a new chapter of my life is starting”. From the first time I tried it somewhere in the back of my mind I already knew this would be something that’s a part of my life for the rest of it, and this week only confirmed my suspicions. After such an prodigious week I couldn’t imagine how I was going to be able to survive such monotonous lectures.

Unfortunately for me the highs of the trip were too grand, from the moment I got back to Edmonton everything came crashing down. School work was piling, exercise was put on the back burner, work was getting busier. The next few weeks I would often catch myself zoning out dreaming of what could be. Scrolling through my social media the only things that caught my attention were trip reports and videos raving about how great the conditions were. It was almost too distracting, and with no plans having being made about going splitboarding again I had nothing to look forward to, nothing to motivate me. Times like this was always tough for me, ever since my earliest recollections I was always motivated by things I could look forward to whether it be a trip to the mall with my family, or a camping trip, but without anything I would always feel a bit lost, lackadaisical about life.

As the window of opportunity to go splitboarding was closing I was getting anxious about getting out again. The Rockies were going through a dry spell lacking any fresh snow, reports of rocks becoming exposed, the strong spring sun starting to melt away the mountains winter coats. My friend and I planned a quick weekend trip to get away for one last time. As we drove down we told ourselves that the snow was probably going to be terrible, we had been spoiled by our time out during reading week with champagne powder making us feel like we were levitating down the mountain side. But once again the mountains pulled through for us, we found a beautiful untouched mountain side below the Crowfoot couloir. To our surprise no one had taken advantage of the fresh snow that came through the area only a few days ago. It was perfect. Two more days of powder boarding, putting fresh tracks in the mountain side. There’s just something extremely satisfying looking back up the mountain to see that the only tracks are the ones that you had just left behind.

I cant wait until next year, the places I’ll go, experiences I’ll have, people I’ll meet. I’ve heard it before “you’re still young, you’ve got so much time why are you rushing into this?” And let me tell you, this is the worst advice I’ve ever gotten in my life. If you don’t know, just give it a try; no more excuses.