WURLOS: The Gear

From WURLOS 2010

Almost as fun and almost as stressful as the skiing itself is gear selection. Equipment-wise, we were all on rando race setups. I was on Ski Trab World Cup Duo Race skis, Andy on Hagan Superlights, and Bart on Dynafit SR 11s. All of these skis are about 65 mm in the waist and around 160 cm long. They are less than 2 lbs per ski (around 800 grams) and all incorporate carbon fiber.

For bindings, we were all on Dynafit Low Tech Bindings. At 160 grams, built of titanium and aluminum, they are some of the lightest bindings available. One of the problems with the Low Tech bindings is that they do not have a high heel post. A higher heel post enables us to skin steeper lines, which is required by the WURLOS. We built our own heel lifters with some aluminum. With the yellow tab down, we had a medium heel post, and with the binding flipped around, we had a high heel post, which made steeper skinning much more comfortable and efficient.

From WURLOS 2010

For skins, I went with wall to wall mohair tail-less skins to conserve weight and to prevent glop. Bart was on some G3 nylon skins and Andy with BD nylons skins. All were wall-to-wall.

For poles, Bart and Andy went with double Whippets. I went with one Whippet and a Dynafit carbon pole, again to save weight and to be more efficient. In truth, there were a few times when I wished I had double Whippets. One of the issues I have with Whippets is that they are heavy. Bart and I are working on a lighter alternative.

For boots, we were all on Dynafit DNAs. Except for a few durability issues, we love the DNAs. They are comfortable and most importantly, they have a large range of ankle articulation, which makes for fast and efficient touring. And for the DH, they ski relatively well. Case in point: it's by go-to touring boot, no matter what ski I'm using. Dynafit is coming out the TLT 5 next year, which will change what is possible for a lot of ski tourers out there.

From WURLOS 2010

After our first attempt at the WURLOS, we had a good sense of what gear would be required and what we would not need.

From WURLOS 2010

Here is a list of what I carried:

1. CAMP Speed Helmet -- super light ski mountaineering helmet
2. OR lightweight beanie with the top cut off -- to save weight! Just kidding, for more ventilation.
3. Mont Bell Thermawrap -- super light and warm, awesome hood protects when weather turns bad
4. CREE LED light -- recommended by Kanyon Kris, puts out enough light for descents, best part: $20
5. Black Diamond Icon Headlamp
6. Smartwool lightweight top, scoopneck, women's model
7. CAMP X3 600 Pack -- super light at under 600 grams. It has a hip belt pocket and a ski carry system that allows you to put skis on your back without removing the pack.
8. carabiner -- to fasten skis to back, or to rappel off
9. Lowe Pro camera case with Canon S90
10. Closed Cell Foam Pad -- used to sit on during breaks and to wrap around ski bindings so they don't gouge my back
11. Patagonia wind shirt
12. Marmot thermal bottoms -- At about 11:00 pm at the top of the Pfeif, I stripped off my pants to get these on. It was worth it.
13. CAMP Water Bottle Holder
14. Pieps Freeride Beacon -- small and light
15. Dynafit ski pants aka tights
16. Lorpen spare socks
17. REI One spare gloves
18. Sunglasses
19. Leatherman
20. Blister care kit, containing Leuko tape, bandages, moleskin, and Dr. Scholls blister pads

Not pictured:
21. Camelback bladder
22. wool undershorts and undershirt
23. JETBOIL -- Andy brought a Jetboil to melt snow and cook ramen. It saved us big time. We ran out of water and the Jetboil brewed it quickly. 20 hrs into the tour, we stopped and had ramen noodles and it was a major luxury. On Monday, both Bart and I each ordered a Jetboil. I carried the fuel, Andy carried the stove, and Bart carried the noodles.
24. 20 meters of 5 mm cord. We didn't need it.

We didn't take shovels or probes. Nor did we take crampons, although we they would have come in handy in a few places.

That's probably more information than you wanted, but for future reference, it might come in handy for me.

For food, I took Brian Harder's advice, and took a lot of GU. Throughout the tour, I ate 15 GUs, 2 packages of Cliff Bloks, 2 Pro Bars, 2 granola bars, a bag of jerky, and 4 Snickers. For fluids, I drank Pepsi, water, Carbo Rocket, GU20 and Ultragen -- probably about 3-4 liters.

WURLOS: The Mountains

Well, Bart, Andy, and I more or less completed the Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup On Skis (the "WURLOS"). For many reasons, the WURLOS didn't follow the path of the WURL as established by Jared Campbell, but there was a ridge linkup, it was in the Wasatch, in my mind it was "Ultimate," and I'm not aware of anyone who has completed a similar project, so, in keeping with and in honor of Jared C's label, I'm going to continue to call our path the "WURLOS." I'll dedicate this post to the mountains of the WURLOS, since it is the beauty and spirit of these mountains that fueled this project, and in the event others might want some beta about our path. Perhaps, in the future, I'll make some other WURLOS-related posts, like, what you think about during 21.5 hour tour, or why I dry heave when I see GU, or essential WURLOS equipment (or lack thereof), or how to cure to being afraid of vertical exposure, or how about, Making Sense of the Senseless? For now, the mountains . . . . Here is the route.

From WURLOS 2010

The primary objective of the WURLOS was to climb and ski many of the 11k+ peaks on the ridge splitting Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, and on the ridge splitting Little Cottonwood Canyon and American Fork Canyon. The WURLOS route began at the "S Curves" in Big Cottonwood Canyon at about 6500 feet and climbed up Broads Fork. The Salt Lake Twin Peaks sit at the head of Broads Fork, and from there it was game on. Here are the peaks the WURLOS tags and skis:

1. SL Twin Peaks
2. Jepsen's Folly
3. O'Sullivan (Sunrise)
4. Dromedary
5. Monte Cristo
6. Superior
7. Baldy
8. Hidden Peak
9. AF Twin Peaks
10. Red Stack
11. Red Baldy
12. White Baldy
13. Pfeifferhorn
14. Chipman
** 15. Bighorn
** 16. Lone Peak

** We didn't tag or ski Bighorn or Lone Peak, but it can be done.

Here is a shot of the Big Cottonwood side (north facing) of Cottonwood Ridge, and the path we took.

From WURLOS 2010

From Twin to Superior is about 5 miles, but it is over some pretty rugged terrain. Here is a shot of the peaks that comprise what some call the "Triple Traverse" -- Twin, O'Sullivan, and Drom.

From WURLOS 2010

The descent of O'Sullivan's east ridge is a steep side slip.

From WURLOS 2010

To ascend Monte Cristo, we traversed into this cirque. I'm not sure if it has a name. Anyone?

From WURLOS 2010

And then ascended the Heart of Darkness. The Heart was filled with nice bootable snow. And at the top was a small little scramble to the top. No rope was needed to ascend.

From WURLOS 2010

A view of Monte Cristo from the North.

From WURLOS 2010

And then to Superior. It's hard to pass up the south face of Superior if you have skis, and it is a fast and direct way off the Cottonwood Ridge. Here is a shot of Superior's south face and an approximation of the line of our descent. We descended at about 1 pm in the afternoon. The conditions weren't ideal, but they were acceptable so long as we skied fast.

From WURLOS 2010

Here is a shot of the Cottonwood Ridge from the Little Cottonwood Canyon (south) side.

From WURLOS 2010

Superior's south facing apron practically dumps you into Snowbird. Having had issues with Alta, i.e., its intolerance for uphill traffic, we did not incorporate Devil's Castle or Sugarloaf. Instead, we began our ascent from Snowbird's tram dock, ascending up Chips Run to Baldy.

From WURLOS 2010

The east ridge leading up to the Twins is an aesthetic line.

From WURLOS 2010

From the AF Twins, the WURLOS tags and skis Red Stack, Red Baldy, White Baldy.

From WURLOS 2010

A close up of Red and White Baldy, along with our route for the day. Luckily, we were ascending in the evening, and the snow was hard, perfect for booting.

From WURLOS 2010

The Pfeif was in our sights before it got dark. By the time we got there, however, it was dark. We ascended by the light of the moon and LED.

From WURLOS 2010

And since the Pfeif is one of the icons of the Wasatch, a picture of the east ridge.

From WURLOS 2010

Here is a shot of the peaks and drainages west of the Pfeif.

From WURLOS 2010

And a shot looking at the Pfeif from Hogum Fork.

From WURLOS 2010

Getting out of Hogum Fork is always tricky. I like going up the north facing snow field, but it is also possible to go up the ridge (recommended if the snow isn't stable).

From WURLOS 2010

At the top of Hogum, Chipman awaits.

From WURLOS 2010

And from there, Big Horn and Lone Peak are within reach. Unfortunately, as we reached the "X" depicted below, we were exhausted, we lost all visibility, we were sketched out about ascending and descending Big Horn, and it was past midnight. So, we skied out Bells Canyon to our waiting car.

From WURLOS 2010

Looking down on Big Horn from the northwest.

From WURLOS 2010

The elusive but ever-inspiring Lone Peak. Maybe next year.

From WURLOS 2010

WURLOS

Exiting Bells. Knees hurt.

WURLOS

At Hidden Peak, going up Twins. Feeling ok and like we can do it. It's going to be a long night though.

WURLOS

Since its all about the up, we go up the Heart of Darkness to Monte Cristo.

WURLOS

Attempt 2. Twin.

WURLOS Post Mortem

Yesterday, I didn't like skiing and I was done for the year. But that's because I was in a bad mood. This morning I woke up after 12.5 hrs of sleep, and began thinking about another attempt at the WURLOS. Mood swings.

As I posted below, we abandoned our attempt at what we have called the "WURLOS" at about 3:00 pm yesterday. By that time, we had been going for 13 hrs, had climbed 12,000 feet, and our travels had taken us from the S Curves in Big Cottonwood, up Broads, to Salt Lake Twin Peaks, to O'Sullivan, to Dromedary, around Sundial, up upper Mill B, to Monte Cristo, to Superior, to Alta, under Devils Castle, to Sugarloaf, across and up Mineral Basin, to Hidden Peak at Snowbird.

The first 8 hrs of our foray went as planned and were "blessed."  We skied from the summits of 6 11k+ peaks on Cottonwood Ridge.  We met our self-imposed time checks.   We were confident.  We had a few good laughs.  At the top of Monte Cristo, I nearly fell off laughing when Andy turned around and looked at me.  One of the lenses on his sunglasses had fallen out or had never been there.  I asked, "what happened to your glasses?"  He said, "huh?"  And took them off and looked at them.  He hadn't even noticed that one lense was missing.

At Alta, we began an unrecoverable tail spin.  Looking back, there were several reasons underlying our abandonment.

• Conditions.  Good coverage, hard surface/cold temps, and low avalanche danger would make a WURLOS possible.  It's hard to get these kind of conditions simultaneously.  Unfortunately, our travel surface, for the most part, was not ideal.  When we started at Broads at 6500k, I could easily sink my pole down to the ground.  Not good.  At about 9k and higher, the temps cooled down below freezing. However, the new snow that had fallen on Tuesday hadn't baked down yet, forming the dreaded breakable crust.  These conditions on both the ascent and descent slowed us down and sucked precious energy.  
• Exhaustion.  Exhaustion is a given on a project like the WURLOS.  But I was surprised at how sapped I felt 10 hrs into the tour.  Where could I get the extra energy to go for 20 hours?  I don't know, but I think I could do a few things differently.  First, I wouldn't start at 2 a.m.  My body isn't used to skiing in the middle of the night, and I don't function well on 2.5 hours of sleep.  My partners kept telling me I was in a bad mood.  I wonder why.  It's not good to start a 20 hr push tired.  Second, I would take some planned rest stops.  We were on the march for 8 hours straight until we hit Alta.  Perhaps taking some time to rest and eat would have helped in the long run.  Beyond that, I don't know.  I guess I'll just have to man-up and pray a lot.
• Gear.  For the most part, our gear choice was spot on.  Our ski and light setups worked perfectly.  I am confident I can ski any part of the WURLOS on race skis in the dark.  However, in our attempts to lighten up, our packs were too heavy.  I carried a lot more food and water than I needed to.   We didn't need crampons.  I think if I were to make another attempt, I would leave my avalanche safety gear at home -- no beacon, probe, or shovel.  
• ALTA.  Alta doesn't allow any uphill traffic and they are sticklers.  No sweet talking.  No reasoning.  No nuthin.  Including Devils Castle, Sugarloaf, and Baldy in any route is more trouble than it's worth if Alta is open.  I can't say the same thing about Snowbird, because its employees are pretty reasonable when they meet uphillers.  That said, I was irritated when Snowbird wouldn't allow us to ascend the AF Twins.

Here are some pictures from our tour:

My food. I'm taking less next time, or caching it.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Salt Lake Valley from Twin Peaks.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Ascending O'Sullivan. Twin and an unnamed 11k peak in the background.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Sunrise.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Skiing of O'Sullivan's east ridge down to Tanner's saddle. Bart commented that he would take a steep sideslip over a 100 turn powder run any day any time.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

View of east ridge of O'Sullivan from Drom south face.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Summit of Drom.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

We descended from Drom (where this photo was taken) to the Sundial (centerish in the photo). Miles of pure breakable crust!

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Perhaps on the next WURLOS attempt we will follow Cottonwood Ridge a bit further. Monte Cristo and the Heart of Darkness at the end of the ridge.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Traversing between Monte Cristo and Superior.

From April 17, 2010 (WURLOS)

Will there be a "next time"? . . . .

WURL Abandoned :(

Burned lots time and energy at Alta of all places.  Wouldn't let us go uphill. Traversed around to Catherines. Poached Devils and Sugarloaf.  Denied at Baldy  AF Twins are closed. And tired. Really tired. Going to the spa. Wait, we spent all our money on Gatorade.

WURLOS

Monte Cristo. Tired.

WURLOS

Drom.

WURLOS

Twin at 5 am.

WURL Recon and Lisa Falls

The WURL on skis remains on my mind. I think we have our route more or less established. I had some questions about the Cottonwood Ridge between Twin and Monte Cristo. So, last week, we got out a couple times to do some recon. It looks like we will ski Drom into Mill B, around the Sundial, and skin up to Superior. On skis, this makes the most sense. Hopefully, we will do this in the light.

We have also made some gear modifications. Basically, we (me, Bart, and Andy) will all be on rando race gear -- race skis and Dynafit low tech bindings. We have made what I consider a pretty significant mod on the low tech bindings to enable us to skin steeper lines (more on that later). We'll all be on Dynafit DNA race boots. Our skis are fitted with wall-to-wall Ascension skins. We have packs or modified our packs so that we can strap our skis to our backs without removing our packs -- to save time. I'm convinced that without race gear we will not be able to complete the WURLOS.

To test out our gear, on Saturday, we did a Tanners Lisa Falls blitz. Here are a few pictures:

Bart and Andy skinning up Tanners at dawn:

From Lisa Falls 2010

The Tanners saddle with the Pfeif in the background. The WURLOS will include the Pfeif and that ridge.

From Lisa Falls 2010

Sun peeking out from behind Drom. To summit O'Sullivan, we will climb the snow field in the top right to gain the ridge.

From Lisa Falls 2010

Climbing up to the base of Twin Peaks. The WURLOS will follow this route to the top of Twin. We hope to avoid having to break too much trail.

From Lisa Falls 2010

We will follow this ridge to the top of Twin.

From Lisa Falls 2010

And then summit O'Sullivan and Drom.

From Lisa Falls 2010

Ripping skins on the summit of Twin.

From Lisa Falls 2010

The other Twin summit is a few feet lower. We won't be tagging it on the WURLOS.

From Lisa Falls 2010

For kicks, we exited out Lisa Falls. There are limits to what is skiable on rando race skis or any ski for that matter.

From Lisa Falls 2010

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Below the falls was unskiable and some boulder hopping and downclimbing was necessary.

From Lisa Falls 2010

Here is me smashing my camera into Lisa Falls. Photo by Andy. Luckily, it still takes pictures.

From Lisa Falls 2010