I first saw the Citadel Memorial Weekend, when a CMC group made an attempt on Grizzly Peak from Loveland Pass. “What mountain is that?” I asked around when I saw the impressive looking summit of Citadel.
Shortly afterwards I saw a weekday climb of Citadel offered on the CMC website. The original date was postponed due to thunderstorms, but when I met Diana at a park-n-ride lot west of Denver there were ominous clouds in the sky above.
We saw some lightning and drove through some rain on the way to the Herman Gulch trailhead. However, only a light drizzle was coming off and we started off hoping it would soon cease. The initial section of the trail was clear but as we hiked higher we encountered more and more snow.
Before long we gave up all semblance of following the summer trail and took off across the snow slopes to the base of the couloir we planned to climb.
On some dry rocks we strapped on crampons and broke out our ice axes and helmets. Three members of our group brought harnesses and I had a rope in my pack in case anyone was bothered by the exposure.
Meredith and I took turns kicking steps in the soft snow. Last night’s clouds hadn’t let the temperature drop much and the snow was soft in the morning light.
The last 20 feet or so of the couloir was still shaded and held firm snow.
We thought Linda might appreciate being offered a belay, so I got out the rope and lowered it down the slope for her. She accepted the belay but climbed the slope without incident.
The couloir was climbed, but we hadn’t reached the summit yet. A short class 3 scramble finished the climb.
The top of the Citadel was covered with spiky rock blocks. A large raven was perched on one of these but flew away before I could get a picture.
The clouds had really dissipated and we were rewarded with great views. I could see Loveland Pass, where I’d first noticed the Citadel as well as much of the Front, Gore, Tenmile and northern Sawatch ranges.
Before heading down I manged to drop the tripod mount from my camera. Luckily, I saw roughly where it had landed among the black and gray rocks. Unluckily, the mount was black and gray and tiny. Diana helped me search a bit before the call of lunch proved too enticing. While excavating the summit rocks I found a granola bar wrapper. I packed it away as trash and only then, in a flash of instant karma, did I suddenly find my tripod mount. For the rest of the hike I picked up every piece of trash I spotted.
Lunch over, we needed to descend a couloir immediately opposite to the one we’d come up. Not finding any suitable rocks to sling for an anchor we buried the 2 pickets we carried up and Meredith got ready to belay Linda down the steeper section.
I walked down the slope first, coaching Linda a little until the rope ran out and the angle eased off.
She handled the rest of the descent quite well and then we traversed across snow to the south ridge of Citadel.
From the ridge top we had a perfect glissade slope back into Herman Gulch. Waterproof pants came out of packs and loose items were buttoned down.
John descended first, checking his speed with an ice axe and stopping a few times to survey the slope.
As soon as he was out of my run out path, I leaped from the crest of the ridge and took a ~600 foot ride. Meredith soon followed and laughed the whole way down.
The fun part was over and now we had to pick our way down the softening snow – trying to avoid sinking to our hips.
I kept looking back up the drainage at Citadel as we hiked out.
Once we hit the trail and snow-less terrain, Linda helped me with some wildflower identifications (Diana disavowed all knowledge of wildflowers with a dismissive “I’m a climber”).
Complete Photo Album
