Kyle Van Vleet - Sep 11, 2023 3:08 pm Date Climbed: Sep 10, 2023
Solo day up to Heaven
Crossed McDonald creek and followed a dry drainage to the base of Glacier Wall. Headed west from there, found a break and gained the ridge. Followed the ridge all the way to the summit. This route avoided a lot of the bushwhacking others have complained about.
Jim_The_Kid7 - Oct 19, 2022 4:57 pm Date Climbed: Aug 19, 2020
Arrow lake route
Camped 2 nights at arrow lake to break up this trip.
A day or so after breaking the legs in with Gould, Derek, Patrick and myself set out for a "small-ish" day climbing Heavens from the GTTS road below the Glacier Wall. We started around 10am. As we gained elevation the small chance of rain was starting to look more promising. We ignored snack breaks all day and pushed for the summit. From the top of the Slabs we were able to see the weather brewing above arrow lake. We were on the summit for maybe 5 minutes before making our way down. The rain, and eventually hail began while we were descending the slabs. Soon rumbles of thunder came from all sides. The ridge we came in on was lost in the storm, which only seemed to be building. I made the unfortunate decision to descend the North slopes of the Glacier wall and starting what I knew would be a horrendous bushwack to the McDonald Creek drainage. Out of hiking shape, and soaking wet we navigated Nettles, Devils club, and alders until we hit the flattop mountain trail. From there we hiked to the Packers Roost where we were able to hitchhike a ride back to our car, at 5am. I had thorns in my shins for weeks.
GlacierCountry - Aug 26, 2016 12:08 pm Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2016
Schwack from Hell
Miserable bushwhack to start. Summit block slab is steeper than it looks! Gorgeous weather on the summit. Horrible groppel and rain storm on the way down. Took 11 hours due to weather and being forced around the flooded creek. Went with Jen Hawes and Lara Middlemas. Glad that one is done. Would do Arrow Lake route next time instead.
geoinmt - Sep 11, 2015 10:12 pm Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2015
east face
Climbed with the Rocky Mountaineers. Moderately smoky. Very pleasant climb with good company. Fred's route description was very good. The couloir leading to the ridge starts at the top of the highest scree cone at the base of the ridge cliffs. The slabs make this one of the coolest peaks in Glacier I have climbed.
keegsieb - Sep 8, 2015 9:58 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2015
Great Day
Long Day on Climb Glacier National Park's Route. Slippery upper section was sketchy. Bushwack on way down was much worse then it could have been. 12 hours, rained at the end. Smoke was not too bad, but clouds were low. Creek crossing was easy. Incredible!
ssheriff - Aug 11, 2014 4:48 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2014
Heavens Peak East Face route
Creeks were high this year and it took a bit to find a safe creek crossing at 4,400' and it was even trickier to find it on the descent back through the alders, devils club, etc. Above that brushy zone it is all quite nice with easy travel. However, there was about five meters of sketchy, slick slab just before the summit. Many would like a rope the way we went which was tight against the final summit cliffs. Beware the snow slabs while on the rock slabs, a bunch (~300 m^3) came off while we were on route. If you were inclined to haul a bivy bag to the moraine at 7,000' you'd have a great camp and easy summit day (there are lower bivys as well). GPS says about 5,700' vertical in 6 miles roundtrip.
Climbed up the South Face straight up the center and cut to the ridge just above the snowfield just SW below the summit. Altered slightly from the south ridge route, except straight up the central face. Nothing worse than class 3 and no bushwacking. Check out route description and photos added.
awhite28 - Dec 17, 2012 8:25 pm Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2012
Heavens Peak
Climbed from Arrow. Check out my new route description!
Climbed a few times. Once via Stanton, Vaught, McPartland.
urnotreal - Aug 18, 2008 7:52 pm Date Climbed: Jul 19, 2001
east ridge
with jeff fox. parked at "avalanche chutes" exhibit, forded creek, and followed a drainage up to the ridge. saved a lot of bushwacking this way. didn't bring axes and had to use sharp rocks to get up the last snowfield. about 3/4 of the way up we got passed by an over the hill gang member soloing. turns out he started about 2 hours after us!
FlatheadNative - Mar 5, 2008 1:52 am Date Climbed: Aug 19, 2004
Heaven's Peak Achieved
Climbed with variation of Fred's South Ridge route. Upon reaching snow fields below West face of Heaven's then achieved North slope and then walked up incredible sloping parking lot sized slabs of rock.
jimegan - Feb 6, 2008 1:51 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 1995
HEAVEN'S PK
CLIMBED WITH LARRY SANDEFUR AND VERN INGRAHAM AND ? FOLEY VIA THE E END OF THE GLACIER WALL WITH TREMENDOUS BUSHWHACK
8/23/98 E FACE ROUTE GMS HIKE - ONE OF MY FAVORITE SAMPLERS OF GNP MOUNTAINEERING
9/16/99 E FACE ROUTE WITH SEVERAL AMBITIOUS OTHG MEMBERS
8/16/2001 E FACE ROUTE AGAIN TO SHOW ED FORKOS OF LAS VEGAS AND RON AND VERN OF WHITEFISH, MT
burningthebushes - Jan 6, 2008 5:18 pm Date Climbed: Jul 31, 2007
NW Ridge
This route is hardly a route and 3rd class at best. Up a chute from MacDonald river for about 2000' vert and then bushwhack to the west of the peak then up to the ridge and follow it to the summit. Gorgeous and mostly untouched going this way. Even saw a little brown bear in the chute munching berries.
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: 25 Aug 1979
Climbed with Monica Spicker. We found the going to be more difficult than implied in the climbing guide - perhaps because we did most of it in the rain and fog. 10 hours round trip from the road.
Kyle Van Vleet - Sep 11, 2023 3:08 pm Date Climbed: Sep 10, 2023
Solo day up to HeavenCrossed McDonald creek and followed a dry drainage to the base of Glacier Wall. Headed west from there, found a break and gained the ridge. Followed the ridge all the way to the summit. This route avoided a lot of the bushwhacking others have complained about.
Jim_The_Kid7 - Oct 19, 2022 4:57 pm Date Climbed: Aug 19, 2020
Arrow lake routeCamped 2 nights at arrow lake to break up this trip.
Dansmlgnp - Nov 20, 2020 10:27 pm
Heavens HellA day or so after breaking the legs in with Gould, Derek, Patrick and myself set out for a "small-ish" day climbing Heavens from the GTTS road below the Glacier Wall. We started around 10am. As we gained elevation the small chance of rain was starting to look more promising. We ignored snack breaks all day and pushed for the summit. From the top of the Slabs we were able to see the weather brewing above arrow lake. We were on the summit for maybe 5 minutes before making our way down. The rain, and eventually hail began while we were descending the slabs. Soon rumbles of thunder came from all sides. The ridge we came in on was lost in the storm, which only seemed to be building. I made the unfortunate decision to descend the North slopes of the Glacier wall and starting what I knew would be a horrendous bushwack to the McDonald Creek drainage. Out of hiking shape, and soaking wet we navigated Nettles, Devils club, and alders until we hit the flattop mountain trail. From there we hiked to the Packers Roost where we were able to hitchhike a ride back to our car, at 5am. I had thorns in my shins for weeks.
GlacierCountry - Aug 26, 2016 12:08 pm Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2016
Schwack from HellMiserable bushwhack to start. Summit block slab is steeper than it looks! Gorgeous weather on the summit. Horrible groppel and rain storm on the way down. Took 11 hours due to weather and being forced around the flooded creek. Went with Jen Hawes and Lara Middlemas. Glad that one is done. Would do Arrow Lake route next time instead.
geoinmt - Sep 11, 2015 10:12 pm Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2015
east faceClimbed with the Rocky Mountaineers. Moderately smoky. Very pleasant climb with good company. Fred's route description was very good. The couloir leading to the ridge starts at the top of the highest scree cone at the base of the ridge cliffs. The slabs make this one of the coolest peaks in Glacier I have climbed.
keegsieb - Sep 8, 2015 9:58 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2015
Great DayLong Day on Climb Glacier National Park's Route. Slippery upper section was sketchy. Bushwack on way down was much worse then it could have been. 12 hours, rained at the end. Smoke was not too bad, but clouds were low. Creek crossing was easy. Incredible!
ssheriff - Aug 11, 2014 4:48 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2014
Heavens Peak East Face routeCreeks were high this year and it took a bit to find a safe creek crossing at 4,400' and it was even trickier to find it on the descent back through the alders, devils club, etc. Above that brushy zone it is all quite nice with easy travel. However, there was about five meters of sketchy, slick slab just before the summit. Many would like a rope the way we went which was tight against the final summit cliffs. Beware the snow slabs while on the rock slabs, a bunch (~300 m^3) came off while we were on route. If you were inclined to haul a bivy bag to the moraine at 7,000' you'd have a great camp and easy summit day (there are lower bivys as well). GPS says about 5,700' vertical in 6 miles roundtrip.
GlacierDan - Apr 16, 2013 1:33 pm Date Climbed: Sep 20, 2010
Heavens PeakClimbed up the South Face straight up the center and cut to the ridge just above the snowfield just SW below the summit. Altered slightly from the south ridge route, except straight up the central face. Nothing worse than class 3 and no bushwacking. Check out route description and photos added.
awhite28 - Dec 17, 2012 8:25 pm Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2012
Heavens PeakClimbed from Arrow. Check out my new route description!
FlatheadJim - May 22, 2011 12:46 pm
Heaven's PeakClimbed in 2002 & 2007
pyerger - Jun 17, 2009 12:00 pm
HeavensClimbed a few times, one of my favorites in the park.
bfrench - Apr 27, 2009 11:45 pm
HeavensClimbed a few times. Once via Stanton, Vaught, McPartland.
urnotreal - Aug 18, 2008 7:52 pm Date Climbed: Jul 19, 2001
east ridgewith jeff fox. parked at "avalanche chutes" exhibit, forded creek, and followed a drainage up to the ridge. saved a lot of bushwacking this way. didn't bring axes and had to use sharp rocks to get up the last snowfield. about 3/4 of the way up we got passed by an over the hill gang member soloing. turns out he started about 2 hours after us!
FlatheadNative - Mar 5, 2008 1:52 am Date Climbed: Aug 19, 2004
Heaven's Peak AchievedClimbed with variation of Fred's South Ridge route. Upon reaching snow fields below West face of Heaven's then achieved North slope and then walked up incredible sloping parking lot sized slabs of rock.
jimegan - Feb 6, 2008 1:51 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 1995
HEAVEN'S PKCLIMBED WITH LARRY SANDEFUR AND VERN INGRAHAM AND ? FOLEY VIA THE E END OF THE GLACIER WALL WITH TREMENDOUS BUSHWHACK
8/23/98 E FACE ROUTE GMS HIKE - ONE OF MY FAVORITE SAMPLERS OF GNP MOUNTAINEERING
9/16/99 E FACE ROUTE WITH SEVERAL AMBITIOUS OTHG MEMBERS
8/16/2001 E FACE ROUTE AGAIN TO SHOW ED FORKOS OF LAS VEGAS AND RON AND VERN OF WHITEFISH, MT
burningthebushes - Jan 6, 2008 5:18 pm Date Climbed: Jul 31, 2007
NW RidgeThis route is hardly a route and 3rd class at best. Up a chute from MacDonald river for about 2000' vert and then bushwhack to the west of the peak then up to the ridge and follow it to the summit. Gorgeous and mostly untouched going this way. Even saw a little brown bear in the chute munching berries.
Moni - Nov 15, 2003 8:17 am
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: Aug 25, 1979With Fred - long bushwhack and rainy conditions
Fred Spicker - Jul 25, 2002 9:04 am
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: 25 Aug 1979Climbed with Monica Spicker. We found the going to be more difficult than implied in the climbing guide - perhaps because we did most of it in the rain and fog. 10 hours round trip from the road.