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Meeker, Heat Seeker (5.10a, 5p)

Mt. Meeker

Route:

Heat Seeker

5.10a, 5p

Great position and fun climbing make this route a nice addition to Mt. Meeker.

Region: Colorado
Elev: Meeker summit: 13,911 ft (note: the top of the route is not the summit)
Rock type: Gneiss & Biotite Schist
Type: 
Date(s): July 29, 2023 (Sat)
Partner(s): Nate Arganbright

Related trip reports:

Route Overlay

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Intro

Heat Seeker climbs the Northeast Buttress of Mt. Meeker in five pitches. The route is relatively new at the time of this trip report, having been established in August 2020 (by Walz, Noble, & Schneider). The route links ledges and crack systems, on mostly good rock. There is some occasional loose rock and some spooky giant flakes on the second pitch, but otherwise the climbing is fun, the belay ledges are spacious, the position is excellent, and the views of Longs Peak and the Diamond across the way are superb.

Nate and I had a fun day together climbing this route and hanging out in the beautiful area. The following page gives a route overlay, time stats, and pitch-by-pitch photos for the climb.

Time Stats

Times
Parking on road below Longs Peak Trailhead: 8:04 am
Longs Peak Trailhead: 8:15 am
Arrive at base of route: 10:57 am
Start climbing: 11:13 am
Arrive at top of route: 2:25 pm
Begin descent: 2:32 pm
Arrive at base of route: 2:45 pm
Begin hiking out: 3:05 pm
Longs Peak Trailhead: 5:18 pm
Parking on road below Longs Peak Trailhead: 5:28 pm
Splits
Longs Peak Trailhead to base of route: 2 hours 42 minutes
Climb route: 3 hours 12 minutes
Top back to base: 13 minutes
Hike out: 2 hours 13 minutes
Total car-to-car (includes breaks and parking down road): 9 hours 24 minutes

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
Starting from the Longs Peak Trailhead, hike to the junction with the Chasm Lake Trail and take the Chasm Lake Trail to its end in a grassy meadow beneath the east buttress of Ships Prow. Hike up as for the Iron Gates, and cut right to the main face of the Northeast Buttress. It is best to access the base of the route via a ledge system, which can be accessed from either the left or right depending on your route up the talus.
We started hiking around 8am, so the Longs Peak parking lot was already full and cars were parked as far down the road as we had ever seen them.
The arrow is near where we parked—halfway down the road between the trailhead and HWY 7. But it was only a 10 minute walk along the road to the trailhead.
At the trailhead.
The park service has been hard at work on the trail. Longs Peak / Diamond in the distance.
A beautiful hike.
Flying Buttress of Meeker on left, the Loft on right.
To get to the base of the route, ascend a hillside of talus. As you can see in the photo (taken at 10:24 am), the climb stays in the shade until midday.

Pitch 1

5.9, 110'
Begin about ten feet right of a left-facing corner on the sheer face of the buttress. Climb straight up through the black band to a ledge and up a fantastic corner to another ledge. Belay here.
Looking up towards Pitch 1.
Nate starting up Pitch 1.
Fun corner and crack climbing on Pitch 1.

Pitch 2

5.9, 100'
Climb straight up through some huge flakes (a bit spooky if you think too much) to a mega ledge belay. 
Nate leading Pitch 2.
Pitch 2 has some giant flakes. As long as they stay attached they are fun to climb. But a bit spooky once you begin to wonder how well they are attached.
It's a bit tricky to find a good belay location on the ledge at the top of Pitch 2. Back and down seems to be the best place to find good gear placements.
Move the belay about 30 feet left to the start of Pitch 3.

Pitch 3

5.10a, 115'
Move the belay about 30 feet across the ledge. Climb the awesome but short finger crack (crux) to a break in the rock, and traverse right past a thin rotten crack to a second with blazen yellow lichen. Fun moves on periodically suspect rock lead to a right-leaning crack on perfect white stone. Belay on a great ledge.
Nate leading Pitch 3. Nate made this pitch look easy, but I thought it was a bit tricky.
The brilliant yellow lichen on Pitch 3.
The vast expanse of gneiss on Meeker's east face.

Pitch 4

5.7, 125'
Climb a full pitch of "swimming pool exits" on amazing white rock. Belay below the obvious offwidth.
Nate starting up Pitch 4.
Pitch 4.

Pitch 5

5.8, 115'
This shares a final pitch with Bands and Brothers. Climb up the offwidth for 20 feet (this protects with a #5 cam if you don't want to climb 5.8 offwidth unprotected). Then climb/scramble to the top of the ridge line. The offwidth can be avoided by climbing around to the left.
The offwidth that starts of Pitch 5. This can be protected with a #5 cam, but Nate nonchalantly hiked right up it.
Nate's only piece of gear on the pitch.

Top

The route tops out on the ridgeline well below the summit. To descend, start scrambling down the East Ridge (3rd). Or, you can continue up the ridge all the way to the summit of Meeker.
On Meeker's East Ridge at the top of the route looking towards the summit of Meeker.
A great view of Longs Peak, the Diamond, Ship's Prow, and Chasm Lake. There were some storm cells on the horizon, but nothing big ever materialized.
Zoomed in on the vertical face of the Diamond. This is an amazing wall of granite and one of the reasons I moved to Colorado in 2019.

Descent

3rd
Hike down Meeker's East Ridge (3rd) through to the Iron Gates.
Begining the descent down the East Ridge to the Iron Gates.
Descending talus down the Iron Gates back to the base of the route.
A beautiful hike out.
Alpine columbine.
Queen's crown.
Stonecrop.
Hiking the road back to the car. Most of the cars were gone by late afternoon.
A couple of weeks previous, I had installed an electric fence for my cat Newt to keep him out of the neighbor's yard. This was the first day I left Newt outside with the without me around to supervise (he still was learning the boundary; earlier in the week I had to go collect him after he chased a chipmunk across the boundary and ignored the static zap). When I got home, I found Newt hanging out on the back deck under the chair. Seemed like he'd had a good day and stayed safely on my property....
...or maybe safety is relative. That looks like a dangerous location to rest your head Newt!
My, that doesn't look so comfortable.

Previous and Next Adventures

Shoshoni Peak (N Slope to SW Couloir), Indian Peaks, CO
Bookmark Pinnacle (Penis Chimney), Lumpy Ridge, CO

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