What's the toughest hike along the Wasatch Front?
According to the Wasatch Mountain Club, it's the Wildcat Ridge, a 14-mile round-trip trek up Mount Olympus (9,026 feet) and onto Mount Raymond (10,241 feet).
Kip Yost, a former member of the club, notes that in order to finish this 15-hour trek, hikers must scramble over boulder fields, traverse ridgelines and face exposed cliffs. Its total elevation gain is 6,200 feet — more than any other Wasatch Front hike.
Donn Seeley, current hiking director for the Wasatch Mountain Club, agrees — to a point — with Yost's ranking, which he came up with in 1995.
"The exposure is extreme," Seeley said, cautioning that it's a very dangerous hike with not only steep cliffs but potential rattlesnake hazards, too.
Larry Swanson, a club member, is credited with discovering the hike, which got its moniker from the nickname for the mountain skyline from Olympus to Raymond peaks.
"It's very long," Swanson said of the hike, explaining it almost borders on climbing, with all the scrambling required. "It's slow going." The only harder hike he's done in the Salt Lake area, he says, is an even more unorthodox one — from Albion Basin to Bell's Canyon.
Seeley says Utah has a wider variety of hikes than anywhere else in America, including Colorado. "For the variety, we can't be matched," he said.
Yost's system of ranking hikes using an open-ended numerical rating is controversial. Traditionally, hikes are ranked according to difficulty — easy, moderate, difficult and extreme. In Yost's ranking, anything rated 11.0 or higher is considered extreme.
Yost rated the Wildcat hike a 17.0, 2.2 more than the runner-up 15.8 hike to "Broad Fork" Twin Peaks from Deaf Smith Canyon.
Other ratings include Bells Canyon to the Pfiefferhorn (Little Matterhorn) at 15.6; Broads Fork to Twin Peaks, 14.9; Lone Peak from the Draper Ridge, 14.9; Lone Peak from Jacob's Ladder, 14.8; Pfiefferhorn from Dry Creek, 14.5; and Mount Nebo from Andrews Ridge, 14.4; Timpanogos Peak from Aspen Grove, 11.0; Deseret Peak , 7.6; Ben Lomond Peak from North Ogden Canyon, 7.2; Ensign Peak, 1.5.
Though Yost's rankings are considered controversial to some, the club continues to post his list on its Web site www.xmission.com/~wmc/.
While Seeley prefers the traditional way of ranking hikes, he acknowledges Yost's mileage and time estimates, as well as a list of conditions on the hikes, are useful.
Promoting such difficult hikes — like the Wildcat — gives Seeley some pause for concern. He fears inexperienced hikers will try it and get hurt or killed. Still, he said the club, on occasion, does sponsor a Wildcat Ridge hike, though anyone who goes along should not consider the club a guide service — participants are ultimately responsible for their own safety.
Seeley is also concerned by disregard for safety shown by many hikers. That ranges from not carrying enough water to hiking alone to not having the proper equipment on snowfields. (Speaking of danger, lightning remains one of the largest outdoor killers in Utah. Hikers would be wise to summit peaks by early afternoon — when the threat of thunderstorms is lower — and then get off exposed areas quickly.)
Instead of talking about "toughest hikes," Seeley prefers to talk about his favorite hikes. His favorites include Deseret Peak, Mount Olympus, Timpanogos and Ibapah.
The Wasatch Mountain Club currently has about 1,000 members.
It started out as a hiking/skier club but has since expanded to include rock climbing, biking, boating, rafting, kayaking and in-line skating.
E-MAIL: lynn@desnews.com