Page Type: | Mountain/Rock |
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Lat/Lon: | 40.24900°N / 105.604°W |
Activities: | Hiking, Mountaineering, Scrambling |
Season: | Spring, Summer, Fall |
Elevation: | 13911 ft / 4240 m |
I picked up this page at Kane's recent fire sale. Thanks for turning this wonderful mountain's page over to me, Kane.
Photo credit Big G
The spectacular Longs Peak (14,255-ft.), Mount Meeker (13,911 ft.) glacial mountain cirque, has inspired hundreds of thousands of mountaineers all over the world. Mount Meeker is actually just a continuation of Longs enormous east face. In between, the Ships Prow (13,340-ft.) separates the two mighty peaks. Most believe Longs to be the undisputed monarch of all Colorado 14,000-ft. mountains, and there are those who believe Mount Meeker to be the king of Colorado's high centennial (13,800+ ft.) peaks. Combining the two offers a myriad of climbing possibilities, but Meeker alone has challenged many world-class climbers.
Mount Meeker rests .75 mile southeast of Longs Peak, and is the second highest peak in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Meeker has long west, south and east ridges that extend out from its tiny, exposed, pinpoint summit. These long, sweeping ridges consist mostly of large talus, and slabby cliffs, which make for mostly class 2 hiking until you reach a skinny summit ridge. There is a catch, if you keep the route mostly class 2 from one of these sweeping ridges, you have to deal with much more elevation gain (up to 5,671 ft.), plus the exposed section of the summit ridge is longer. In addition, good weather is a must, for you will be exposed to the elements on these high ridges for most of your day. In contrast to these sweeping ridges, Meeker has a huge, imposing, concave north face. The enormity of this steep face is apparent when viewing the standard Loft Route from Chasm Meadows. As the case with many other complex mountains, Meeker's daunting north face has its weakness, and attaining the Loft (13,460-ft.) between Longs and Meeker is doable by an interesting and scenic class 3 route. Depending on your experience, distance (11.4 miles), elevation gain (4,511 ft.), route finding, and exposure could be an issue.
This is truly a great hike, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't have much bouldering/mountaineering experience. Too many things could possibly go wrong for someone who doesn't give this mountain proper respect. I usually don't post stuff like this on my pages but Meeker is starting to become a popular hike along with Longs. Typically, just the sight of Longs and Meeker will be enough to persuade some into rethinking their objective. I think I share the same view as many experienced hikers that we too often see people who are not properly prepared for a long climb of this sort, especially in this area.
Located on Mount Meeker's huge concave north face, the Dream Weaver Couloir is considered by many to be one of Colorado's premier spring snow routes. In between Meeker's East Arete and the spectacular Flying Buttress the couloir is easy to identify from the Chasm Lake area. The couloir starts on the right (east) side of the Flying Buttress and continues above the Flying Buttress to within 300 ft. of Meeker's summit (per Gerry Roach).
hgrapid - May 16, 2004 4:40 pm - Hasn't voted
Untitled CommentMount Meeker may have been named after Nathan Meeker, a New York newspaper editor who founded the town of Greeley, and was subsequently killed by Ute Indians based on a dispute. I am sure google might have more information, if you are interested.