This classic climb had been on my list for a long time.
I’ve lived in Utah for 5 years now but most of my climbing has been focused around the canyons of the southern Wasatch Range, around the city of Provo where I lived. Now that I’m in Salt Lake, there are tons of classic climbs around that I haven’t done. The South Ridge of Mt. Superior was one that I’ve wanted to do for years but never got around to.
I did it last week and it was pretty good. I decided to solo it because I knew the real rock climbing sections were short and easy. Plus I love being in the mountains by myself. It was a great mountain climb, but not a great rock climb. That is, in and of itself, it was a wonderful way to get to the top of a 11,000+ foot mountain. But from a rock climbing standpoint, it wasn’t good because it was just too broken up and inconsistent.
I climbed from my car to the summit in 1 hour and 50 minutes. I stayed on top for about 10 minutes, then hiked down. I somehow managed to get a bit lost on the way down and make things harder for myself, and that gave me a car-to-car time of about 3.5 hours.
The ridge in profile. To give you an idea of scale, I’ve included two Sears Towers on the left.
The same photo as before, with some beta shown.
Looking up the lower part of the ridge.
Looking back down the ridge.
A small memorial to a climber who died on the route. He slipped and fell.
Two guys paragliding down the ridge above me.
The ridge, with Snowbird resort behind it.
Knife-edge ridge.
Sundial Peak (one of the most well known peaks in the range) and Lake Blanche.
Looking west from the summit of Monte Cristo to some other 11,000-foot peaks.
A view of the South Ridge from the descent route.
The South Ridge follows the skyline.