Wind-Blown Zupjok & Ottomite Snowshoe

Between waking up at 4:30am and hitting the road at 5:15, I was stoked to check out a new area. I haven’t explored the Coquihalla much. This wasn’t quite the Spring day I expected! 39 days until Kilimanjaro and I’ll be squeezing in every hike (or snowshoe), run, walk, sprint drill I can.

Expecting a decent snowshoe ahead, I picked up a bagel from Timmy’s and corrected the carbs with only 3/4 of the required insulin. Due to higher-than-normal blood sugars during the week (I think this was a combination of warm weather and an insulin pump site infection), I packed 4L of water, extra insulin, and ShotBloks. For a bit of pre-planning, knowing my blood sugars were on the high side, I drank 2-3L of water on Thurs and Fri to help level out my levels. Blood sugars were stable the night before and morning of, so I was feeling great to start. Despite the higher blood sugars during the week, I treated the hike as I normally would by taking 1/2-3/4 insulin corrections for carbs – it did the trick.

We parked at the rest area and we were on the trail at 8:00am. Less than 10 steps from the parking lot, Ryan post-holed and snowshoes went on immediately. The trail gradually climbed a service road for the first 4km or so, after that we started gaining elevation more quickly. Eventually, the rain turned to snow and my toque and gloves went back on.

Ryan describes the rest of our trip best:

The further we got on the ridge approaching the subalpine, the stronger the wind got. By the time we broke out of the trees on the final kick to the Zupjok summit, it was really blowing – one of those ‘don’t face into the wind and be careful to not drop anything lest it be blown off the mountain’ ones. Quite fun in an epic sort of way!

Wind-blown Zupjok Summit shot:

My attempt at a backshot of minor views because I couldn’t turn around to face the wind:

We ran into a few of skiers at the top:

Ryan & I on the summit:

On our way back down, some views opened and we detoured up Ottomite for a 2nd summit. This was my first 2-summit day :).

On Ottomite:

Views opened up a bit on our way back:

Overall thoughts, blood sugar-wise I was fine. Along the trail I anticipated a few blood sugar crashes and nipped it with ShotBloks. The highest blood sugar read 13.2mmol and the lowest was 5.1mmol. I had one significant drop (not crash) on our way back near the truck, my blood sugars dropped from 8.7 to 5.1 in less than 15 minutes (I confirmed this with several tests on opposite hands) and I was having low symptoms (shakiness, dizziness, extremely tired from walking on a flat trail). Can’t wait to get back here in the Summer for views and longer hikes!

When we got back to the truck – this was the icing on the cake – there was a food truck parked beside us and open for business :).

Some trail stats:

Elevation Profile:

Google Earth 3D & Birdseye Views:

Just a reminder we’re 39 days out from the big trip! If you’d like to make a donation to JDRF Canada, please follow the link below:

Thanks in advance guys!