Mount Superior and Monte Cristo are officially recorded as Superior Peak on most maps. On the maps, the west peak is labeled as the summit of Superior Peak, locally though, this west summit is referred to as Monte Cristo, and the east summit is referred to as Mount Superior. These separate names are used frequently in guidebooks and local discussion.

Mount Superior and Monte Cristo are intimidating, yet inspiring, mountains. The faces of these mountains are composed of large cliffs, steep chutes and exposed ridges. The challenging terrain attracts a lot of traffic in both summer and winter. There are superb ridge scrambles in the summer, and even better ski-mountaineering climbs and descents in the winter. Throughout the years of "Powder" ski magazine, Mount Superior photos have appeared in nearly every Photo Annual issue.

Three routes are used to access the two summits. The easiest and most common route is the East Ridge route. The North Ridge route is similar in difficulty as the East Ridge, but it is more difficult to access. The South Ridge route is a classic alpine route of the Wasatch, rated at 5.5. All of these ridges contain areas of intense exposure on which people have fallen and lost their lives. These peaks are for more experienced climbers.