From Dry Gulch, East Ridge route
“The Citadel” is a little known mountain around the Clear Creek mountain area, which is also the location of the much more popular mountains: Grays and Torreys Peaks. The Citadel is no doubt the most difficult climb in the area. The climbing or scrambling isn’t too bad, but the route finding is. This was the most difficult route finding I’ve ever had to do. But, that’s what made the trip so fun. I’d imagine that many people reach a certain point and have to turn back without finishing the final 80-100 feet to the summit.
There are two main towers on Citadel. On the topo, they’re both equal in height but I think the one that you see prominently from Dry Gulch is the highest. It is certainly the most difficult to get to.
The only detailed info that I found on this route was in Roach’s Indian Peaks book. He suggests the south gully route which is fine if you’re planning to do the route in winter or spring (which I was actually), but a major headache if you’re going to do it in summer; it’s a big gully full of loose scree! The other route that he mentions is the 4th class East Ridge route. This is a misprint. The NORTH ridge (from Pettingell) is the 4th class route. We take the east ridge route (which is not listed in any book that I could find) and it’s class 2-3 all the way to the base of the summit tower.
You can see the north ridge route in the above picture on the right. You can also see the east ridge route on the right but it’s the mellow ridge that appears underneath the jagged north ridge route.
Dry Gulch is one of the best secrets of the Clear Creek area. There are two valleys to the east of Dry Gulch: Herman and Watrous Gulches. They’re always packed in the summer. We saw only one party in Dry Gulch all day. Dry Gulch is so unfrequented that the trail peters out after a half a mile or so. It is equally as pretty as any of these other gulches and, for the mountaineer, contains more interesting peaks, namely Hagar and Citadel.We took several pictures of the flowers in the area.
We hiked up Dry Gulch for about a mile or so and then we headed up through a meadow the right hand side. The trail had long since vanished so we decided that we would try to gain the shelf above the gulch with as little bushwacking as possible. I’d long since given up the plan on hiking up the south gully and was looking at the south ridge as our route.
The higher up we got above the gulch, the more I started favoring the east ridge over the south ridge. The south ridge had a large section of scree and talus. I wanted to avoid scree and talus for as long as possible. There’s a small basin at the base of the Citadel with a few streams running through it. There’s a few good spots for camping to but not too many that are level. Anyway, from here, I saw a faint trail that lead up to the saddle on the east ridge. We started hiking for that.
The rest of the way, we just kind of climbed straight up following a faint trail. At the saddle though, there’s a very prominent trail leading down into the much more popular Herman Gulch. Herman Gulch, therefore, could also be a trailhead for the Citadel. However, it would be a bit longer and definitely more crowded. But, if you like trails, Herman Gulch might be for you.
The ridge was very easy to hike up. Ridges are always fun because they also provide you with views in both directions. We took our time climbing up the ridge – enjoying the views and posing for pictures.
This little spur on the east ridge gave Pat his first experience of scrambling up rocks. The spur is a great spot to eat, to take pictures, or to take in views. You need to do a little bit of scrambling with a teeny bit of exposure. This is a good place to practice!
At the top of the ridge we encountered a short snowfield. I went ahead and started kicking steps into the snow on the beginning steep part. RuthAnn and Pat had never done anything like this so I wanted to make it pretty easy for them. Pat got a little spooked when his slick shoes slipped out from under him. Fortunately the snow wasn’t steep (or we would not have crossed) and he simply fell into the snow.
After crossing the snowfield and cresting the east ridge, we had a great view of Citadel’s summit towers. At this point, I realized that there would be some routefinding. Basically, the mountain is surrounded by a sheer cliffy area varying from 40-80 feet. I guess this is where the peak got it’s name; it’s like a well-defended fortress. We traversed the talus beneath the summit towers and noted a couple of weaknesses in the ramparts: thin and steep gullys leading up the towers.
The first gully seemed too steep. The second one, however, looked feasible. So we started up. The gully ran between the two main towers and was steep and loose (difficult 3rd class). We scambled up about 150 feet to the top of the gully which ended in a steep narrow saddle. From here I couldn’t find a continuing route up. Each side was bordered by high walls and the other side was a steep snow couloir leading down. There was a tough 4th class (or easy 5th class) route to the right leading up to the main tower but it was terribly exposed and I wisely decided not to attempt that. So, while they were taking a break, I opted to explore around the left side.
There’s a tough 3rd class little pitch to get up but once I got up I was able to survey the gully we’d just climbed. The sub-summit was above me – a short scramble to the top. I downclimbed about thirty feet and noticed an elusive route leading to the top of the main tower!
The trick was to downclimb the gully and exit it to the south on a narrow ledge.
RuthAnn and Pat were a bit nervous about this (and I certainly don’t blame them – it was their first hike involving routefinding and climbing) so I went ahead, scouted the route, and came back. I knew this route would take us to the top. That’s me in the photo on the right crossing the narrow ledge. At the end of this ledge (just in front of me in the photo), the route becomes much easier and safer and leads over big blocks to the summit. You turn left after the wall and head up the grassy, rocky slopes.
After I scouted the route, it was Pat and RuthAnn’s turn to cross. I coached Pat over, suggesting various places where he should place his feet for maximum security. Then we both coached Ruth Ann over.
Here’s RuthAnn, hugging the wall as she traverses the grassy section of the ledge. There’s about a 40 foot drop to the left of this picture. The traverse was easy but a bit unnerving because it’s a lot thinner than anything you’ll encounter on Longs Peak, for example. However, after you traverse this ledge, you’re home free! It’s an easy scramble over blocky rocks and grass to the top of the Citadel. The tricky routefinding made this trip really fun for me.
Hooray! He’re we are on the summit of “The Citadel”. What a rewarding climb. I really enjoyed this one – plus it was good practice for Mount Lindsey that I would do with Robert two weeks from this day.
The summit of Citadel is pretty thin. There’s plenty of room to sit comfortably and eat, but there’s quite a drop off on two sides.
There’s great views from the top of Citadel. You can check out the rough 4th class North Ridge route. It looks tougher than that to me.
Petingell Peak is very close to you at the head of Herman Gulch to the north. Hagar Mountain, of course, is in the opposite direction at the head of Dry Gulch. You have great views of the famous fourteeners Grays and Torreys as well as some famous ones further in the distance, namely, Mount of the Holy Cross which you can see in the far distance just to the right of the summit of Hagar Mountain.
In the far distance to the west, you have a panoramic view of the awesome Gore Range. The highest mountain to the right is Eagle’s Nest.
Here’s RuthAnn on the very last pitch of the tough part of the route. Once she got off these steep rocks, we finished downclimbing the gully, crossed the talus again and began heading down the southwestern slopes.
