The Central Wasatch Mountains have roughly 9 5th-class scrambles that are at varying levels of classic status: the south ridge of Superior, the north ridge of Pfeifferhorn, Thunderbolt Ridge, Standard Ridge, Mineral Slab, Millstone Slab, West Slabs, Kamp’s Ridge, and Geurt’s Ridge. Three are in Little Cottonwood, three are in Big Cottonwood, and three are on Mt. Olympus.
The above route combines all 9 of these classics into one single human powered linkup, utilizing a bicycle for the 2 longer approaches between the 3 separate zones. I chose to start at the base of Superior and then go on foot to link up North Pfeiff and Thunderbolt, which led to a descent down Bells Canyon. At the Bells trailhead, I had stashed a cooler and my bike in my parked car, where I refueled and biked into BCC to the base of Standard Ridge. I then got back on the bike to head to the S-curves trailhead, where both Mineral Slab and Millstone can be linked in one smooth loop.
I used the bike once more to ride down the canyon and head north a few miles to the base of Mount Olympus at the Z-Connector Trail, where a friend joined me for the overnight linkup, beginning with going the West Slabs and the ridge above to below the north summit, then scree-sliding down the Memorial 5 ski couloir to the base of Kamp’s and back up and over the goddesses’ mini-summits before descending to the top of Tolcat Canyon, where my friend parted ways with me and I did one last schwack down Tolcat to the base of Geurts. I took Geurts to the summit of Olympus and then ran down the main trail to the standard trailhead, with a final time of 23:58:58.
While the use of the bike between trailheads made this effort slightly convoluted, I do think this is a worthy addition to the style of travel many people enjoy in Salt Lake County. The WURL is a classic rite of passage for many runners, climbers and scramblers in Utah, and most prepare for it by doing many of the scrambles above. The WURST felt like a natural offshoot that has real promise for popularity growth as it takes the list of scrambles many spend years building up towards and brings it all together for one fantastic outing. I am excited to see repeated attempts in the future with there being a real opportunity for improved style and performance as the popularity of ultra scrambling continues to grow! P.S. roughly 20 of the 52 total miles were on bike, a full on foot self-supported effort would be the ultimate style for this route.
