Steep Mountain / South Mountain

Steep Mountain / South Mountain

Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 40.47528°N / 111.87598°W
Additional Information GPX File: Download GPX » View Route on Map
Activities Activities: Hiking, Scrambling
Seasons Season: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
Additional Information Elevation: 6196 ft / 1889 m
Sign the Climber's Log

Overview

Steep Mountain is the steep looking mountain above Draper often referred to as South Mountain.  What people refer to as the "Point of the Mountain" is actually the far Western flanks of Steep Mountain. 

Steep Mountain is also home to the Point of the Mountain Flight Parks which are world renowned for having some of the best wind currents in the world for Paragliding and Hang Gliding. 

Unfortunately, Geneva Rock owns much of Steep Mountain and the mountains behind it and is quickly cutting in to the mountain.  The trail that used to circumnavigate the mountain is now cut away on the western side of the mountain and the area is an eyesore to all those who drive between Utah County and Salt Lake County.  Worst of all is that the extreme cut away from the mountain is changing the way the wind comes in to the valley---ruining some of the best wind currents in the world and also changing the way the wind blows in to the Salt Lake Valley.  Many Draper residents claim that they now get a lot of horribly dusty wind that wasn't there until they started cutting in to the mountain recently.  Geneva has plans to cut away 20x what they have currently cut away...destroying nearly half of Steep Mountain and several mountains behind it.

Please visit http://savesteepmountain.org to sign the petition and take action to save the mountain!

Getting There

Take the 14600 South Exit off I-15 and head East for 2/3 of a mile and turn right on Traverse Ridge Road.  Follow Traverse Ridge Road for 1.1 mile and turn right on Vintage View Lane.  Continue 1/4 mile up Vintage View to the Culdesac where you can see the trail above you. 

Route

Steep Mountain Summit with Oquirrh Mountains in the distance
Steep Mountain Summit with Oquirrh Mountains in the distance
Start at the Vintage View culdesac (Elevation 5270).  When driving up, you can see the trail heading up the mountain on the right.  Head less than 100 meters up the paved drive up to connect to Ann's Trail/Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Continue up the trail about a 1/4 mile until you reach an intersection and head right.  After just over a tenth of a mile, you can either go down the BST towards the houses below or you can break off left on the trail that heads straight up the ridge of Steep Mountain.  Simply follow the steep trail up the ridge until you meet the dirt road on top of the ridge.  From here, go right (West) on the dirt road just over a 1/4 mile to the summit where there is a wind flag on top (Elevation 6196).  The total mileage is almost exactly a mile from bottom to Summit.

If you want to get nearly exactly 1000 feet of vertical, you can start down at the Bonneville Shoreline Trail near the intersection of Traverse Ridge Road and Vintage View Lane.  This adds about 1/3 of a mile. 

Red Tape

Circumnavigation is no longer possible due to Geneva Rock cutting away the Western Flanks of the mountain.  Previously, you could run up the mountain, take the dirt road across the top of the mountain from East to West down to what is now the Bonneville Shoreline Trail at the flight park and take the BST back to where you started. 

When to Climb

Year Round

External Links

http://www.SaveSteepMountain.org

Additions and CorrectionsPost an Addition or Correction

Viewing: 1-1 of 1

rcole_2000 - Apr 3, 2020 3:21 pm - Hasn't voted

Parking

Parking at the end of the culdesac no longer seems like an option-there’s a bunch of McMansions there with no parking signs. I parked at a gravel pull out on the north side of traverse ridge road just before vintage view lane.

Viewing: 1-1 of 1


Children

Children

Children refers to the set of objects that logically fall under a given object. For example, the Aconcagua mountain page is a child of the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits.' The Aconcagua mountain itself has many routes, photos, and trip reports as children.