Avg: 3.6 from 182
votes
This is a combination of 2 submissions from 2002 (the earlier entry retaining the contributor status):
I can't believe no one put this classic in the database already. This is the obvious, beautiful couloir left of the Flying Buttress on Mt. Meeker. Most years by June the melt/freeze cycle will provide the two short mixed sections the make up the cruxes, and narrowings in the couloir make for some of the most beautiful alpine ice you'll ever climb. Earlier most years it's a snow slog, later and you'll hike a lot of scree. Descend toward the Loft, and find the traversing ledge to bypass any steep ice. A must-do alpine route, even with the crowds!
From Nate Christiansen:
This beautiful couloir starts about 500' below and left of Flying Buttress on a grade 2 snow field. The field eventually steepens and narrows after about 500 or 600 feet, right at the base of Flying Buttress. Winter conditions are great for the first half, but the spring conditions will be the best. No belay will be needed the first half. Rope up when couloir begins. Dry tool most the way up until you hit a view off to your right. If you want to exit with bad weather, now is the time. Rap slings are all over the first half. The second half provides the short crux. When the couloir ends, you will be about 300' from the summit. The easiest thing to do now is to summit and find cairns while hiking west towards Long's Peak. The cairns will lead you just east of the huge avalanche-prone apron. Switchback down while following the rock marking until you hit the lower section of the Apron. Here, glissading is doable and fun after the climb.
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On the descent we got a good look at Dark Star. It looked to fairly full of snow, but appears to be unconsolidated. The gully leading up to Dark Star was unconsolidated snow.
The Right Chimney has no snow in it.
Talked to fellow who climbed Lamb's Slide on Apr 28. He also found unconsolidated snow, but the postholing was not as bad on on Dreamweaver.
Basically, we found winterlike conditions up there. The new snow will require a couple of freeze/thaw cycles to firm up.
There are a couple of small water ice smears coming off the Broadway and there is still water ice in Peacock Falls. We saw no water ice in Dreamweaver or Dark Star. My guess is that the chances of any real water ice forming in any of these routes is very slim. I hope I am wrong. Apr 29, 2002
Lafayette, CO
Steve Line Apr 14, 2003
Snow (well consolidated) May 19, 2003
Santa Fe
Dreamweaver this past Friday and it was a complete snow climb except for three short rock chimneys. We did not use crampons, ropes or pro and it took about 3.5 hours to summit from our tent in the Meeker Cirque. Upon our hike out Saturday afternoon we noticed that the snow pack was diminishing greatly above treeline. My impression was that avalanche danger is not too bad as long as you are off the steep angles by mid-afternoon. Alpine Ice should start forming if the sunny, dry days persist. I imagine Dark Star was mostly snow as well. The Loft was nice and the rock band was downclimbable without a rope. That may change soon as the snow melts. May 19, 2003
Watch the decent if you come off the Loft via. the normal ledges. The snow was turning to mashed potatoes at that point and made for an "interesting" downclimb. In hindsight, we felt a short rappel would have been a better option to get to a little safer position on the ledge. An earlier start may have helped too. We left the TH at around 4:45AM.
I'll try and post some pics soon.
Great climb!Mike May 25, 2003
We started fairly early and found hard packed snow most of the way.
There is a small rock step at the beginning of the lower section and a 30 ft rock step before the notch where the Flying Buttress ends. No chimney yet, although a deep hole on the upper step signalled that it will be appearing soon.
The upper section also had two rock steps. At the beginning and at the end of the "ribbon". They were both small.
There was a little ice on the rock steps but nothing to get too excited about .
We found the need to put on our crampons early due to the hard snow conditions but only used one ice axe. We belayed a couple of the steps with rock gear although they proved to be easier than they looked (5.0-5.2?).
We summited by 9am and found the snow was rapidly turning into slush. It was a wet ride down the [Loft]. We saw at least 6 parties on the climb including ours. Some folks we starting up it at 11am!
Fun climb.
Cheers, WT Jun 9, 2003
Colorado Springs, CO
Jackson, WY
Also, I felt this was a great first alpine/ice lead (it was for me). I was able to protect the whole thing with rock gear. I felt pretty secure, most of the way up. It was a little insecure up higher were there was ice, but the pro was good, it's not too steep, and the conditions were great. I took 2 short, technical tools, but I only used 1.
Phenomenal route. Jul 16, 2003
Monument, CO
After exiting the upper section, continue straight up towards Meeker's summit and then break to the North. If you break North too soon you'll end up on slabs that want to spit you off the hill.
The route is longer than it appears. I'd say a classic due to the magnificent vistas of Meeker, The Flying Buttress and Longs as well as the not difficult, but at times puzzling cruxes. Dec 11, 2003
The descent is also more straightforward than it appears. Head for the apparent weakness between the cliffs below the loft and the cliffs below the summit of Meeker. Keep your eyes peeled for the cairns that guide you to the ledge that traverses the cliffband. This is key to a straightforward descent. Once below the ledge/cliffband, you can walk on snow all the way to the goblin forest tent sites. If you start early, I would recommend avoiding the temptation to carry snowshoes. We left the parking lot at 2:20, started the couloir at 5:30, summited at 8, and were back at the trailhead at noon. All snow was still solid, but starting to get cruddy. If you start later, the snowshoes may be more useful, but why start later? May 9, 2004
Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Sedona, AZ
Santa Fe, NM
Fort Collins, CO
Fort Collins, CO
Helena, MT
We only saw about 30-40' of ice on the entire route, the rest was more of a snow slog with dry tooling at the steep sections. Avy conditions still seemed stable but the snow was thigh-deep in most of the couloir.
Darkstar and the Notch Couloir appeared to be in about the same shape as Dreamweaver but we didn't get great looks at them. Oct 4, 2004
Colorado
Golden, CO
Boulder, CO
Denver, CO
Longmont, CO
Denver, CO
trying to get to Sardinia
Thanks! Apr 25, 2008
denver,CO
Loveland, CO
Westminster, CO
Wheat Ridge, CO
If so, glad to hear you both were OK. Hope you find your gear, too. Oct 7, 2009
With the conditions I had yesterday, I quickly realized it was now or who knows when. The weather was perfect - fairly cold but barely a breeze and blue skies. The first long slope was easy with perfect styrofoam snow. There wasn't a hint of ice in the first choke. The next slope went just as well with minimal but sufficient snow coverage. Past the Buttress, the next slope was steeper but just as good as the first one and the final mixed section was snow covered as well. After topping out and weighing the options, I decided to "give it a go". I played around on the top slopes, zig zagged down the slabs and gingerly down climbed the final mixed section. Once below this, the first "real" steep section was the crux of the descent. Past the Butress and another snow slope presented no problems followed by the lower mixed section which I down climbed as well. From here is was "all good" and I could let 'em run a bit on the main slope which was firm but just right to sink in the edges.
All in all it was pretty sweet and totally unexpected.
Hopefully the weather and conditions will remain favorable - I have a few others in mind.
Cheers 'n' Happy to New Year to all.
Golden, CO
Ft. Collins, CO
Boulder, CO
Boulder, Co
The snow was a mixture of unconsolidated powder and firm crust in the early morning. No ice yet. Snowshoes aren't needed. We had rope and pro but never needed it. Apr 30, 2018
Jackson Heights, NY
Boulder, Co
Estes Park, CO
Boulder, CO
Starting from where the couloir obviously narrows down:
1. Solo 30m of snow to a flattish section with belay gear on the right side.
2. A 90m simul pitch consisting of 10' well-protected mixed crux, + a lot of snow to below the next mixed step.
3. Exactly a 60m pitch including the 2nd mixed step + snow above.
4. 150m simul-pitch including very short ice, another mixed crux; after the mixed crux, it was soloable snow terrain, but I had to go another 40m to find an anchor.
So that's a total of 330m in the couloir.
It seems to me like this would be a good solo, because the 2 lower (& hardest) cruxes. If you fell, it would just deposit you on some nice snow (in current conditions, things can change when snow melts out). May 22, 2023