Hiking Mt. Olympus

After hiking Mt. Olympus (Utah) today and nearly requiring LifeFlight to get me off of the mountain, I thought I might share a few thoughts that you will not easily find on SummitPost or other similar sites that dramatically oversimplify some of the challenges that you will face. But before I get ahead of myself, here is the rundown of what happened and the mistakes I made.

Starting out around noon (aka the "Hottest Time of the Day"), I parked just down the street from the trailhead, along Wasatch Blvd. I had read on a few pieces on climbing Olympus that there were more cars broken into in the parking lot that there were windows shattered along the street--a rumor that was denied by several people that I met on the trail. But going back to the start time, if you are from a humid state such as the southeast or midwest you will be unpleasantly surprised at how hot it is. The temperatures were in the mid-90s, but because it is so dry here it felt like high-70s and I thought nothing of it.

After starting out at a decent grade out of the parking lot, you enter a series of open switchbacks with low vegetation and great views of the valley. There are a few spots with minimal exposure, but for the most part the trail is extremely safe. In my mind the trail has four segments: the first segment contains mostly scrub brush and grasses.

In the second segment, you enter an area of low trees mixed with increasing amounts of rock that you have to navigate as you climb. In the middle of the summer, this segment also contains your only source of water on the hike in the form of a small stream. Many other sites talk about how it is a steep hike that is only 3ish miles each way, but you would be surprised how fast you go through water, especially if you have not fully acclimated to the altitude.

The third segment of the trail has higher trees, steep grades and significant amounts of rocks in the trail that will slow you down. Many times you are walking in a tunnel of foliage with increased humidity.

The final segment is what I found to be the most grossly underdescribed in other websites. This is the segment of the hike above "the Saddle," a flat segment of ridge that gives great views to the east.

First of all, if this is grade 3 climbing then it's 3.9. The last 45mins or so of the climb is a lot closer to grade 4 climbing than it is grade 3. When I think of grade three climbing, I think of the kind of climbing that is necessary near the summit of many Colorado peaks where you are going up and over some low boulders but would not fall/roll more than 20ft in a worst case scenario. The last bit of climbing on Olympus has significant exposure in several spots and requires at least minimal vertical climbing skill, more than your average mountain hiker may be comfortable with, especially considering many hikers on Olympus are lugging decent sized packs up, which significantly alters one's center of gravity. Never mind my biggest pet peeve about this segment.

Utah. I get it. You are all about the "go for it, and if something goes wrong, maybe we'll be able to help you before it is too late." I also understand the massive amount of wilderness in Utah. But this is probably the second most popular hike in the SLC area! This is a trail that has 12 year olds and 70 year olds on it. And yet there are zero markings as to the trail above the saddle! Not only is this incredibly dangerous, but it also means that you waste large amounts of energy coming back down as nearly everyone takes different paths and has to double back when they hit a 10 foot drop off. In other words it's manageable on the way up but can be disastrous on the way down.

I got in a situation where I was so low on energy that I had to continue down despite the fact that it was much much more dangerous and exposed than the path that I went up on. There were times where a slip backwards would have almost certainly meant broken bones and likely worse. Not only is the trail marked at all, but there is a grand total of two cairns to help one navigate down, and one of them is next to the mailbox at the summit! It's no surprise that in the past few years a number of people have died.

To wrap up my meandering story, although I brought plenty of water I quickly dried up the available calories in my body and became so nauseated that I could not get a dry granola bar to go down--so I called for help. Luckily as the trail is mostly on the valley side, you should be able to get help if needed. I had become so weak that I was afraid of falling down the trail, even though I was back in the 3rd and slightly less steep stage. I had to just sit and wait until my friends could help me by bringing some zofran (anti-nausea) and some liquid energy.

Was much of this my fault for leaving on a hot day at the hottest time of day? Yes. Should I have brought more calories with me? Yes. Are there dangers inherent to climbing Mt. Olympus that are not described on other sites? Yes. I hope that if you are like me and searching out info about the climb that you be sure to start early, budget extra time, and take extreme caution above the Saddle area if you plan on summiting. Multiple people die here every year, if you are like me you may underestimate how difficult the grade is, especially if you are used to the typical Colorado 14er which rises a mile in 7 or more miles walked. Feel free to share your Olympus stories in the comments section.

PS these images are my own, please do not copy them onto other websites without permission as they are protected.