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:

Block summit of The Citadel towering above and to the right:

Lance skinning:

The climb up:

iski:

Nearing the middle:

View of Hagar from the summit:

Lance, first turns:

JP ready to drop:

jonpierre finding the goods down lower:

Lance:

Finding the pow:

Our line looker’s right of summit block:

Justin Bartle & Wyatt Stasinos - Photo: Zach Hooper - Vail
Vail opener went off like this. CrookedCop, Justin Bartle and Wyatt Stasinos show up and we decide to take the gondola to the top, lots of terrain open.. we find plenty of sun baked fresh powder lines. Beautiful bluebird day, Zach sets up for a photog op and JB and Wyatt float a couple of huge indy grabs off of glamour cliffs. Lots of cheers from the chairlift crew and gaper squad, after that we took another quick lap and called it a day. Off to Aspen…

Wyatt, JP, Justin Bartle - Photo: Zach Hooper - Vail

Aspen groomer - Photo: Mark Sullivan - Snowboard-mag.com

Dog + Statue, Aspen - Photo: Mark Sullivan - Snowboard-mag.com
Roll into Aspen around 4:30pm and checked into the media condo, makes all the difference in the world having a place to shower and relax a bit before the nights adventures in Aspen. Thanks snowboard-mag.com and Aspen/Snowmass for the major hookup. After a little down time I rolled over and met up with CrookedCop and crew.. chilled out a bit and watched ir77. So sick.

Big thanks to Steve Metcalfe (Aspen/Snowmass Marketing Director) and Melissa Rhines (Aspen/Snowmass Communications Manager) for putting us up in Aspen and showing us a great time. Opening day was great, good snow conditions, huge posse, and lots of shred friendly terrain and features. Aspen / Snowmass is the spot!

[download video - right click -> save as]
Yesterday was amazing. Perfect bluebird day with zero wind. Spent the early morning boondockin the sleds around a certain meadow..around 7:30am or so we tracked that out and went to the normal spot to start blazin the sled highway for drop off and pick up points. Once that was done, it was game on. We rode 10-12 laps each of 2 foot fresh the rest of the day. Finished up the afternoon with a little sled tour and ran into mr. dodds and crew. expect something off the chain from those guys!

SurfTheEarth marks up the knoll

JP follows

AKD in the fresh

SurfTheEarth

Slow going
Powder cooled
Early morning
Big thanks to Greg Glennie and the team at Colorado Power Sports for dialin the mtn lite in. Check out the demo day coming up in Dec! More info here.

A few reports and pictures coming! Stay tuned. Slayed Copper opening day with Nic Drago, Dodds, Langer, Aspen’s own CrookedCop and crew. Backcountry sled access dusk patrol yesterday with the WKS boys, scored almost 6000 vert.

The WKS crew has had an epic early season and things are just getting better and better. Between stolen gear, major flocks of gapers and long days in the backcountry we’ve somehow found the time to work on a few new projects. The coolest in my opinion is Dave’s new web gallery and online store. If features selected prints from Dave Bourassa and the WeKnowSnow crew, each print is autographed and numbered. Sales from these prints end up helping fund the WKS crew and our trips / adventures.

Dave Bourassa Photography

PMGEAR Usa, the makers of Dave’s stolen bro models loved the shot Dave took of me sitting on the sled waiting for the sun. They put it up on rotation on the homepage. Thanks PMGEAR. In the foreground of the shot you’ll see Dave’s bro models and his pack. This is what was stolen. IN THE BACKCOUNTRY? WTF!