Big Cottonwood Canyon - Salt Lake City

For the most part, this is a long tedious climb most of the way up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The part that makes it a bitch is the final climb to Guardsman. It is pretty smooth going from the turn-off up to the second switchback about a mile from the top. Then it gets ugly. The road takes a decidedly upward turn as you do a couple of hundred yards at 15% plus grade. Just when you think it can get no worse...the pavement ends. Dirt. Not just smooth dirt, but dirt with a regular washboard surface. After enduring 0.3 miles of this, its back to pavement and you think you have it whipped until...the pavement ends. Dirt. Not washboard this time, but sharp, pointy, closely-spaced rocks. After another 0.3 miles of manuvering, you are all done! From the stop light on Wasatch at the mouth of the canyon to the pass is approximately 17 miles and 4790 vertical feet.

The Big Cottonwood Canyon is situated in Utah and belongs to the Wasatch Mountains . Starting from Salt Lake City , the Big Cottonwood Canyon ascent is 26.8 km long. Over this distance, you climb 1472 heightmeters. The average percentage thus is 5.4 %.

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Story by Dean Zenoni from Sandy, United States, submitted on 05/09/2013

We road Big Cottonwood Canyon (BCC) today. The gate to Guardsman Pass is still closed with about 4'' of snow but you can ride to the gate.



The description on BCC is pretty accurate, although we could not climb to Guardmans pass, I have been up the road before and from the the BCC side it is paved all the way.

My personal climb rating:

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