Date: August 24, 2018
Distance: 19 miles
Purpose: reconnect with some favorite peaks in LCC
Of all the training I had done up to this point, very little
had been done in Little Cottonwood Canyon proper. I’m not sure why. I wanted to keep my re-acquaintance with the
Central Wasatch balanced so I knew I needed to get back into LCC while I still
had time to do so before race day. And if I was looking for getting the “most
bang for my buck” by getting in as many peaks, lakes, waterfalls, and
ridgelines in a single trip as I possibly could, there was only one real
option: The Beat Out.
I first did the Beat Out with John Midthun back in 1998,
shortly after my mission. Midthun is an avid hiker of the Central Wasatch,
never much of a runner, but always a good friend of my older brother Gordon. We
actually did the Grand Teton together, which has been my all-time favorite
mountaineering experience. So I’m grateful for old Middy. I first summitted Lone
Peak and North Mount Olympus with him, long ago, shortly after returning from my mission. My brother recently ran into him hiking up at Snowbird. Consistency.
The traditional route begins at White Pine Trailhead just
below Snowbird, works its way past Red Pine Lake, up to the Pfeifferhorn Ridge,
over to a very steep east ramp to the Pfeiff Summit, down the back side of
Pfeiff, across the exposed and sharp Lightning Ridge, around the Chipman Horn
to South Thunder Mountain (11,154’), down to Upper Bells Reservoir, and home
through the traditional Bells Canyon trail.
Total mileage of this route is 13 miles. It’s a long and technical
route, aptly named because you feel beat out by the end.
John Curtis (a.k.a. Johnny Lingo) kindly agreed to be my
final pacer of the race from the Wall to Soldier Hollow. He also agreed to come
and pace me for the first section of this adventure on an early Friday morning.
For him, he only had time to go from the trailhead to White Pine Lake under a
cool breeze, as he had to unfortunately head into the office and sit in front
of a computer screen for way too long (something I have lamented about my own
job plenty). It had rained hard the night before so the watershed had nicely
refreshed and recharged the night before, with lots of running rivulets right
on the trail still. White Pine Lake was 30’ below the regular fill level. Lingo
sent me on my way, and I was excited for exploring ways to extend the Beat Out.
I was going to go up to Lake Peak (a favorite ski shot), then take the ridge
over to White Baldy. However, I short-cutted across the upper valley to get on
the ridge faster. White Baldy was a new and spectacular summit for me.
Beautiful views into several small lakes of Upper American Fork Canyon greeted
me here, right at dawn.
It was at this point I suddenly realized I was on The WURL
Route! What in the World is The WURL, you ask?!? It is an acronym standing for
Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Link-Up. This is the ultimate of all hikes I know of in
the Central Wasatch. Only the fittest, the craziest, the most focused
mountaineers attempt it. If a tougher physical and mental test exists in these
mountains, I am not aware of. It starts at the base of Ferguson Canyon, just south
of Big Cottonwood Canyon, usually around 3:30 am. The trail disappears half-way
up, so you have to scramble up to the 3-way pass between Ferguson, Stairs, and
Deaf Smith drainages. It follows the course across the Triple Traverse (see
above). From Drom, it heads due east on the Cottonwood Ridge Line to Monte
Cristo and Mount Superior on some very exposed terrain (or so I hear from
friends, as I have never actually done it…yet). After Superior, the trail
softens up (becomes less exposed, thankfully) and heads to Davenport Hill,
Black Bess, and ultimately Twin Lakes Pass. At this point, you start the grand
u-turn over to Patsy Marley Peak, around Wolverine Cirque, to Catherine Pass
and onto your next ridge, starting at Devil’s Castle. Then it’s on to Sugarloaf, Hidden Peak,
American Fork Twin Peaks, and on to White Baldy. The trek ultimately ends at
the final summits of Bells Peak and Lone Peak, then descends back to the valley
floor via Big Willow drainage. The unofficial cut-off is 30 hours, but the best
athletes do it in 24 hours. I will be honest here and now: I currently have no
desire to do the WURL. The W100 training has been all I can handle this summer.
But I did want to get a taste of what it would be like to do that ridge on
tired legs.
So I worked my way due west on the ridge down from White
Baldy. This was technical terrain, with just enough exposure to make you a
touch nervous about going too fast. One wrong step here would be disastrous.
When the ridge took me over into Red Pine Drainage headwall, a faint trail
appeared and I was actually able to run again! After 3 hours of scrambling
since I left White Pine Lake, using running muscles felt wonderful. The running only lasted for 0.5 miles
unfortunately, until I got over into upper Maybird.
It was here when the clouds suddenly darkened and things got
very windy. I came across two other young hikers who were doing the great
Matterhorn-esque peak of the Central Wasatch known as The Pfeifferhorn. We
scrambled up the very steep east ramp together and began chatting about our
routes. I told them I was trying to extend the Beat Out in preparation for the
W100. They were fully supportive, but also worried about the growing black
clouds, just west of the peak in Hogum Fork. After some pics on the summit, one
of the hikers kindly offered me his lightweight jacket for the rest of my trek.
He actually insisted I take it. My shirt was drenched with sweat already and
now cooling off quickly with the wind from the pending storm. So I accepted his
offer, promising I would return it to him in the valley.
The rains never came, but that Christian gesture from a
total stranger truly revitalized me at the half-way point. There is a bond felt between people doing
hard things in the mountains.
I was able to run a lot of Lightning Ridge, around the
magnificent Hogum Fork. Here is one drainage I need to return to with skis on
for sure in the winter – so many remote and steep shots! My first view of the
east side of Lone Peak brought back good memories of me and Art descending that
harrowing chute and onto a snow field a few weeks prior…good memories. I worked my way over to South Thunder
Mountain at 11,154’. I considered descending here to the Bells Canyon trail,
but then looked further north to the even more rugged North Thunder Mountain
and the corresponding Thunder Bowl. Despite my growing fatigue and dehydration,
I knew I wouldn’t be at this place again for a long time possibly…so I kept
heading north to Thunder Bowl.
This hanging bowl is one of the prettiest valley views of
the Wasatch. I have never skied it but there is not a winter storm that goes by
where my eyes are not drawn to the Thunder Bowl. I truly love it. I worked my
way over the huge granite boulders and scree to a chute leading directly up to
North Thunder Mountain. The top of this peak rewards the hiker with amazing
views into Coal Pit, Hogum Fork, and Little Cottonwood Canyon. I had been here
once before a few years earlier and the descent into Coal Pit headwall and the
tight drainage below wasn’t easy or that fun, mainly because I was very
unprepared for that trip with low hydration and nutrition supplies. Should I
redeem myself now and have a hopefully better descent into Coal Pit back to LCC
trail? I wavered here on this summit pondering that question for a good 10
minutes. No, I had been away much too long and I wanted to finish my
exploration of the upper, mid, and lower Thunder Bowl until it connected back
to the Bells Canyon Trail. The bushwhack
really only got bad for the last 0.25 miles….seeing the Bells Canyon Trail was
a true relief.
The run down Bells Canyon was tiring, but beautiful. I was
still relishing in the mountain beauty I had seen on my own Super Beat Out. And
I was super beat out this time for sure.
With all that time on the ridge, there were just so many
features to see and experience that I don’t want to ever let myself forget, so
I thought I would list them all here.
Peaks: White Baldy, Pfeifferhorn, South Thunder Mountain,
North Thunder Mountain
Drainages: White Pine, Red Pine, Maybird, Hogum, Coal Pit,
Hogum, Bells
Lakes: White Pine Lake, Silver Glance Lake, Silver Lake,
Silver Flat Reservoir, Upper Red Pine Lakes, Red Pine Lake, Maybird Ponds,
Upper Bells Canyon Reservoir, Utah Lake, Bells Canyon Reservoir.
Waterfalls: Upper Bells Fall x 3, Bells Falls
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