2/3 of the WURL

The WURL.  For those unfamiliar, the WURL (wasatch ultimate ridge linkup) is a classic ridge traverse of the Cottonwood and Alpine ridgelines, on either side of little cottonwood canyon.  Miles and miles of class 3 boulder hopping, class 4 scrambling, ridge running and even some low 5^th class rock (if you stick to the ridge proper) comprise this traverse. 

The WURL has been on my tick-list since last fall when I learned I had been placed in Ogden UT for my summer internship.  I didn’t think I’d be up for the entirety of it in a day (approx. 30 miles, 20k vertical, 24+ hours for most parties) but knew that I wanted to experience at least a good portion of it.  Thanks to the Dorais brothers for the beta and inspiration.  

A few weeks ago in mid-June, I did a WURL recon mission, in order to figure out the Ferguson canyon approach to the Broad Forks Twins, and continued out past O'sullivan to Dromedary Peak before turning around.  I was hooked and wanted more.   

looking E from Dromedary on my recon outing - I'll be back..

After some deliberation, I decided 2/3 of the WURL – up Ferguson canyon to pt. 10350 above stairs gulch, then broad fork east twin, east on the ridgeline to o’sullivan, dromedary, pt. 10910, monte cristo, superior, Cardiff peak, flagstaff, davenport hill, honeycomb cliffs, then trend south to patsy marley, wolverine, tuscarora, now west to pt. supreme, devil’s castle, sugarloaf, baldy, and finishing on hidden peak (snowbird) would be a good-sized outing.  Short enough to get away with a single food/water cache and no need to recon the Bells Canyon exit yet long enough to provide a solid day of adventure.  

I spent a sunny and hot Thursday evening scrambling up the enjoyable south ridge of mt. superior with 3L of water and 2000 calories of food to cache near the summit (in a rodent-resistant 48oz Skippy PB jar), since it marked roughly halfway from Ferguson to Hidden Peak.

S ridge superior to place my cache

 A mediocre weather forecast and mis-set alarm derailed my original WURL plans so I ended up having to put if off another week.  I hoped my hidden cache on Superior could go 9 days untouched by rodents or people.  The following Saturday, the weather looked good so I parked at snowbird at about 5am and shortly thereafter was biking down the canyon at first light, headed the approx. 10mi to the Ferguson canyon TH.  The bike shuttle went smoothly and at 6am sharp, I was hiking up the trail.  Despite having recon-ed the approach, I somehow lost the main trail in the middle portion of Ferguson.  After a few minutes when I realized the mistake, I stubbornly refused to back-track to the main trail and instead continued up the faint “trail” I was on.  It slowly grew fainter until I found myself in full-on bushwhacking mode.  I eventually found the main trail and continued up to the upper Ferguson meadows.  Based on my splits from my recon outing, I think I lost about 20 minutes here.  Not too bad. 

upper ferguson meadows

From the meadows, I quickly gained the ridge above stairs gulch and continued up to broad fork east twin (3:50).  I took a short food/sunscreen break before scrambling east along the ridge, excited for the day ahead. 

from broad fork east twin, looking E to o'sullivan and dromedary peaks

I passed a surprisingly large number of people on the ridge between here and Dromedary, including a pair with a light rope/rack/shoes that had started from Alta.  The climbs up Dromedary and Monte Cristo in particular were memorable – exposed 4^th class with some short sections of low 5^th on reasonably solid rock.  I reached the top of Superior in 7:24 out of water and ready for a re-supply.  I was stoked to find my cached undisturbed and treated myself to a full sit-down rest and feast. 

stellar scrambling on the W side of monte cristo

The loose shale descent off Superior and over Cardiff peak was my mental low-point of the day.  The enjoyable scrambling up until Superior seemed a distant memory.  Some low 5^th class on beautiful white rock on the ridge up Flagstaff(?) helped restore the mood.  The terrain from Flagstaff and beyond was surprisingly tame, in contrast to the scrambling of the morning.

mellowness of Flagstaff and beyond

I did my best staying true to the ridge throughout the day, vacating it only when forced off by dense vegetation and a few short periods of mental weakness.  However in retrospect, hiking on the ridge proper for significant sections when a runnable trail was 10-20ft off the ridge seems dumb.  I think next time I’ll only focus on staying true to the ridge on class 3 and above terrain.

The peaks and hours flowed by (and a very brief rainstorm) until I found myself at twin lakes pass, 10:28 into the day, ready for another sit-down break and mini-feast, slightly displeased with my pace.  I then charged onwards, looking down on wolverine cirque, reminiscing how long ago January 2011 feels, the first/last time I skied there.  From Pt. Supreme, I could see the ugly overgrown and broken ridgeline leading up towards Devil’s Castle.  

ugly, slow ridgeline just before devil's castle

I did my best staying true to the ridge here, despite the slow progress, but thankfully it wasn’t quite as bad as it first appeared.  The class 4/low 5^th scrambling up & down devil’s castle was a much needed change of pace from the prior hours of mellowness since Flagstaff.

devils castle

From devils castle, 3 peaks remained and the legs were starting to feel a little sluggish on the uphills.  Running low on food and water, I pushed onward, summiting Hidden Peak(15:08) near sunset. 

summit of devil's castle

I swapped sunglasses for a headlamp before beginning the run down snowbird on a combination of bike trails and cat-tracks, arriving at my truck shortly after 10pm, 17 hours since leaving, tired but stoked on a great outing. 

Stats: approx. 22mi (including snowbird descent)/12,500 vert/17 hrs car-car at moderate pace

          

Rose:  the quality 4^th/low 5^th class scrambling, especially the W sides of dromedary & monte cristo and the entirety of devil’s castle

Thorn:  morning bushwhack, my mental low on the shale descent from superior

Bud: returning for the full WURL someday

Thoughts: the WURL is a classic outing for good reason, see jared campbell's blog here for all things WURL, the stretch from broad fork twins to superior is stellar and worth doing by itself, the ski terrain in little & big cottonwood canyons is spectacular and its been too many years since I’ve skied any of it