Thor's Hammer is the corner that starts at the hig...
Description
Several 60-80', S and E facing cliffs overlooking the Merimere Reservoir - surprisingly beautiful spot for the area. Solid dark basalt rock, pretty secluded.
This area contains a number of different rock faces. As you look across the water from the approach road, Ampitheater is the biggest face, on the left, Fall Wall is a smaller face to the right, and Merimere Face is the rightmost of the larger cliffs, easily identified by the roofs of Thor's Hammer.
There are many smaller routes on the crags near the castle but these are mostly garbage (literally). Of all the routes in the green book in the castle area, the only one I'd reccomend is Glassworks.
Getting There
Take Route 691 about 2 miles past Meriden and exit onto Main St. Go about 3/4 mi east to Hubbard Park. Drive N in the park and park under the overpass. The gate is closed in the early evening, so don't drive in unless you will definitely be out early. If you can get out early it is only a few hundred yard walk east to the top of the cliffs.
From the overpass, walk about 1/2 mi up the road and cut left at the Southern edge of the reservoir. Follow a trail for a few hundred yards. When the trail cuts uphill and hard left, continue straight up a spur path. Hike another 10 minutes up the scree.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Merimere Face:
This route ascends the obvious stairstep dihedral on the Merimere Face. A Connecticut classic. Although obvious from the road below, this is somewhat tricky to find when approaching from the blue trail from the parking lot at the castle. Be sure to look at the landmarks around the climb as you drive up.Climb the relatively easy corner to the first roof, undercling left (crux), and continue up a wide crack through another smaller roof to the to...[more]Browse More Classics in CT
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