Superior South Ridge

The South Ridge of Mount Superior is a jagged exposed line that is a the most direct route to the summit. It has a good mix of class 4/5 scrambling, exposure, and beautiful views. The last time I was up on the east ridge I decided it would be fun to shoot some photos of my friends on the south ridge from the east ridge. I immediately thought of my friend Brody Leven. He recently got back from an amazing trip to climb North America's highest peak, Denali, with a huge historic expedition. 

Parker and I had been talking about doing the ridge for a while so he made the list as well. We met up at the mouth of the canyon and spent the drive up prodding Brody for details on his trip. I dropped them off at the base of Superior and headed for the trail that would take me up the east ridge. I hurried up the route and got myself into position. It was nice to be up in the alpine with an excuse to sit for a decent amount of time. 

I snapped photos until they were out of sight, then I ended up following a hear of mountain goats around for an hour or so. They were surprisingly fine with me getting close. All in all I thought the evening was a success. 

Timpanogos

 

I was really craving a long day in the mountains. I had been hoping for the Grunge Couloir, but as I called around looking for a partner people let me know that it wasn't filled in. Brody Leven was looking to explore the Southern Wasatch and it came down to just the two of us.

We met and made the short drive up to the Aspen Grove trail head and then made our way up Primrose Cirque. The snow was surprisingly good and we made good time. After stopping for lunch we decided to go for the summit. We crossed the valley and headed up to the summit ridge. We started to make our way across to the summit. It was slow going. Having left my crampons at home I was taking extra time kicking in steps. I was pretty tired by this point, my endurance needs a little work. We eventually realized that we weren't going to make the summit. 

We decided to turn back. The trip back was a little faster, and we got back to our drop in point at just the right time. The sun was setting and we snapped some great shots. 

The ride down was probably the most exciting part of the day. We got cliffed out and had to hike up a ways. We lost the light and I was attacked by an invisible bump. Then we rode out blind on a bumpy trail only able to make out the faint outline of it. We had a good time.