Rite of Passage: The Story of the WURL

The Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup in Utah (known to locals as the WURL) is a climbing and running route that circumnavigates the ridgeline of beautiful Little Cottonwood Canyon. The route is 36 miles long, has over 20,000 feet of vertical gain, and summits countless peaks. Since it’s inception in the early 2000’s, it has gone from an obscure outing to an absolute must-do adventure for Salt Lake based mountain athletes. You start and end basically in the city, so the access make it enticing; however, the required endurance, dangers, navigation and logistical challenges make it no easy feat to pull off.

Grit Visual’s new original film, “Rite of Passage: The Story of the WURL”, is a 21 minute documentary that follows local athlete Mali Noyes on her attempt of the route, while hearing from several people who have completed it on what makes it such a unique and challenging experience. The WURL has a chance to stand on the world stage as one of the most difficult point to point runs in the country, if not the world. Created to inspire and educate, we hope the film intrigues audiences to discover what’s out there while also nodding to the risk and dangers involved.

The film premiered to a sold out crowd at the Jim Santy Auditorium in Park City on November 11 in conjunction with Park City Film. The next screening will be at Brewvies in Salt Lake City on December 16th, and the full film will be released online in Spring of 2022.