CODY SHIMIZU

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

Ice climbing has always been something that’s been on my radar. It was another one of those things that I definitely wanted to get into but it wouldn’t be something that I’d pursue for a few more years. I had splitboarding now, hopefully progressing into ski mountaineering. I was looking forward to this winter, expecting to take full advantage of the backcountry ski season. I couldn’t wait, it didn’t help that the last time I got out in early April was an amazing two days of surprising fresh snow, not too warm that the snow was slushy or anything either. It was perfect spring skiing conditions. As spring rolled around I heard of these MEC gear swaps where they sold off their old rental equipment for unbelievably low prices. Jason and I had nothing better to do, so we found out about one happening at the MEC in Calgary. We drove down the day before and rolled into the parking lot, it was snowing in the beginning of May. Usually people camp out from the night before to be the first in line to get at the amazing deals. Jason and I were planning on sleeping in the car anyways so we brought my tent down and camped out in the parking lot. A few more keeners showed up and we had a small group of young broke fools, wheelin and dealin. Jason and I woke up to a chilly morning with most of the snow turning into slush our tents were soaked. As the MEC employees started bringing out the goods we stood around like hawks observing what was up for grabs. The best deals and the best route to grab as much goods as possible, we could decide if we really wanted them or not later. They had lots of goods from kayaks, xc skis, backcountry skis, and lots of camping gear. But, it was obvious that the most sought after goods would be the numerous ice axes they had up for grabs. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to try and get into ice climbing this coming season so I had no idea what each model was, but the deal was just too good to pass up. I ended up picking up a pair of Black Diamond Vipers. Not the most aggressive tools out there for specific ice climbing but I was more interested in alpine ice, nothing crazy technical just to get me up some cool mountains. Amidst the chaos of people rushing through to grab the best deal at the gear swap I randomly grabbed a small black bag which I later realized had Black Diamond Cyborg crampons, a nice dual point crampon for technical ice climbing. I was delighted to manage to snag those as well. My buddy Jason also pick up quite a few goodies including the Arcteryx Acrux AR mountaineering boots which he would end up selling to me since it didn’t quite fit him. Next thing I knew $500 later I had my full ice climbing set up, ice tools, crampons, and mountaineering boots. Now I had no excuse.

As the summer rolled by with many adventures and long days. Amazing places explored, more and more ideas for adventures and places to see. As school started and temperature dropped water turned to snow and ice and splitboarding was in my mind. Fall reading week I was itching to get out touring. There wasn’t a lot of snow and Steven had his accident, but before that had happened he mentioned something that sparked my interest again. Ice climbing. We were potentially going to go ice climbing the day after, have Steven show us the ropes. But then the incident happened.

A few weeks rolled by as Evelyn and I had talked about trying to get out ice climbing. Logistically, I already had ropes and anchor materials from rock climbing, Evelyn and I could share ice tools and crampons. She could climb in her ski boots as well which are crampon compatible as well. After exams mid-December we decided to get out to the mountains for a weekend trip. We were initially planning on going touring but since we would be leaving Friday morning we would have to leave ridiculously early to get out for some turns. We decided to go checkout Junkyards instead. A easy ice climbing area with in a 10min drive and 15 min walk from Canmore. There was a nice easy walk around to set up a top rope and we set up a line on a steeper bulge to the climbers left. I was excited to get my first few swings with ice tools. It always baffled me how ice climbers can balance on the tiny front points on crampons. As I got my first few kicks and swings in I felt surprisingly solid. All the readings and videos online on how to ice climb kinda helped. Keeping the heels low, swinging from elbows behind my back and keeping a proper A frame form. It was relatively warm out and the ice was plastic. It was a ton of fun.

Ever since I was itching to get back out again. I didn’t think I would love it as much as I did. It’s a totally different feeling then climbing on rock, the swing was stress reliving, I mean how often do you get to hit something as hard as you want? (not that you necessarily need to or should in ice climbing). The movement was not as flexible and fluid but rather structed and flowy. Although it was the small things in terms of feet and tool placement and body position that made a significant difference in ice climbing.

A few weeks later Jason and I managed to make our way out to Bear Spirit and Haffner Creek. It was actually steep enough to feel what screaming barfies truly feel like. Although I haven’t been ice climbing for long it wasn’t too bad. Nothing like how some people describe it to be thankfully. The potential in possibilities if I got better in ice climbing was inspiring, I noticed myself paying more attention driving through the mountains to the ice formations frozen in time spilling off of the mountains. In Haffner Jason and I was looking at the rock beside some of the waterfalls and noticed bolts and obvious scratch marks from tools and crampons. We redirected our top rope and gave it a go. It was so much fun, the moves were a cool mix of rock climbing and ice climbing and pulling onto the ice was a combination of both skills coming together, incredibly satisfying.

Ice climbing is a powerful tool in an mountaineers tool box and I hope to refine it over the coming years. The potential and possibilities of amazing classic lines and the wild places it could take me I look forward to see how ice climbing changes my view of the world and new adventures made possible as I progress.