Bob, Sheila, Jen & Max on the summit, 2005. We stayed on the ridge crest and came down the rock behind and right of Max; apparently it's easier to traverse to the left of Bob !

All Locations > Utah > Wasatch Range > Central Wasatch > Mt Olympus > W Slabs > W Slabs (5.5 4b 13 IV+ 11 MS 4a)

Bob, Sheila, Jen & Max on the summit, 2005. We stayed on the ridge crest and came down the rock behind and right of Max; apparently it's easier to traverse to the left of Bob !

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The descent: I found the gulley from the top of the ridge to the saddle (between the two drainages) to be the trickiest part. From the saddle you can bushwack the drainage (the right gulley in the pic) or hike down the drainage to the begining of the climb.

The view from a pitch up. This is taken from the tree belay mentioned on top of pitch 1.

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2.0 from 2 votes

Robert Hall

Feb 23, 2018

“Bob, Sheila, Jen & Max on the summit, 2005. We stayed on the ridge crest and came down the rock behind and right of Max; apparently it's easier to traverse to the left of Bob !”

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Nearby Photos

North summit - 11/3/2010

Rachel on the West Slabs

This is the route I took to reach the south summit and hike down the trail.

Logan firing some speed on the slabz

On the face

Hazy view of the valley from the top of the west slabs

Please see comments for a description of the route.

Leveled framing showcasing the slabbiness of the slab

Jess and Danny on West Slabs

The summit ridge leading up to Mount Olympus. A rewarding view if you choose to go this way. I think this is Geurt's Ridge?

Last stretch

Rattler on the summit. Watch where you drop your rack!

The down climb gully is just as fun.

West Slabs from REI Parking lot

Halston going for the thin section.

Tony Tuttle cruisin the West Slab, somewhere around pitch3-4. Photo by Cmurdock

Ian and Greg

2007- ponytail intact and all. One of my earliest climbs (Photo by Charlie Stoker)

2007- On the slabs--One of my earliest climbs (note the ponytail)

Sheila, Jen & Max top out

The low point of the West Slabs where the climbing begins...

Belaying Amy from the top--the last pitch.

Looking up the descent gully. We descended the gully in 4 tree single-rope rappels (2 of the trees had slings). I am taking the picture at which point you have to decide to descend down the brushy way (west) or down the way you hike up.

Craig Gueck at the belay station on top of pitch 2. The dihedral above him is the well protected pitch 3.

Half way up

The top of the West Slabs. This pic is looking up the easier rock that we did unroped after 10 pitches. Probably about 2 pitches left worth of rock.

"Last wall" to the true summit

Moving along towards summit of the Mtn. (we may have stayed too high too long, apparently you can traverse to the right of the ridge crest and get to the final "cut" (gully) more easily than staying high)

Craig Gueck following pitch 2. The tree in the center is the belay for pitch 1.

Jen & Sheila approaching base

Starting the hike in

The descent: I found the gulley from the top of the ridge to the saddle (between the two drainages) to be the trickiest part. From the saddle you can bushwack the drainage (the right gulley in the pic) or hike down the drainage to the begining of the climb.

Bob, Sheila, Jen & Max on the summit, 2005. We stayed on the ridge crest and came down the rock behind and right of Max; apparently it's easier to traverse to the left of Bob !

The view from a pitch up. This is taken from the tree belay mentioned on top of pitch 1.

The third tree rappel down the gulley. Difficult to see, but the bottom of the descent gulley is at the top of the picture.

Shivers (Lucas Johnson) on the summit of Mt. Olympus via the West Slabs

the great view overlooking east side of SLC

Connor mid way up west slabs

June 14th, 2025. In my opinion, if the snow looks like this from afar, I'd recommend taking micro spikes only. An axe was nice but probably not needed. But if you would really rather not take spikes, you could avoid the snow altogether if you're careful

A look up the snow gulley leading to the west slabs

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