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Colorado Backcountry: NE Couloir, Citadel - 11.25.06

Submitted by jp on Mon, 11/27/2006 - 08:49

Line: NE Couloir, The Citadel 11.25.06
Who: jonpierre, iskibc, Lance aka Stryker
Entry/Exit: Dry Gulch Ascent, Herman Gulch Exit
Stats: 8.6 miles round trip, 3,100' vertical gain
Photos: iskibc & JP
TGR Trip Report: iskibc's TR

I wasn't very motivated to do a long backcountry day with the lack of fresh snow, as I was talking to iskibc on the phone I mentioned I might want to do a day at the resort and just chill - he promptly laughed in my face and called my bullshit. It was on. The next morning iskibc, Lance and I met up around 5am for the drive up to the trail head. We started the hike to Citadel from the Dry Gulch area and after a few hours of snowshoeing for me we reached the basin. Lance and iskibc skinned into the basin and started the snow climb up the face, I opted to hike up the southerly ridge and shoot some pics of the boys making the climb. We all reached the top bench just below Snoopy's collar and decided on a plan. iskibc summited and made the call that we should drop the backside of Citadel down the NE Couloir. After about an hour of Lance and I standing out on the exposed SW face of Citadel we started to get a little cold from the wind and exposure. Lance booted his way up the collar and I followed, once we got over the top we could see our line and it looked good. Some wind blown fresh and out of the wind, we are very happy. Lance drops first as he is our guest for this trip, while iskibc billygoats up the cliffs to find a good spot to shoot photos. We drop the couloir and make our way out via Herman Gulch. This is where things got shitty for me, while the boys can ski out, I had to boot pack my way out while they were enjoying beers at the car a couple of miles away! Another awesome iskibc backcountry day, doesn't get much better. iskibc took some more amazing pictures this trip, keep an eye out for them up in the gallery.

Citadel: