Welcome to the New Mexico section of Mountain Project!
The contributions that are made to this site are greatly appreciated; this site is made up of an awesome community of users that make the site what it is.
Although there is very little information regarding “rules” for submitting climbing areas and routes to this site, the New Mexico Administers all agree that the following guidelines may be helpful to truly make this site go “Beyond the Guidebook”.
1) Don’t be a jerk (this one states the obvious). 2) Route and area submissions should truly be helpful to those out climbing. Before posting, you should have some first hand experience actually climbing the route. This always results in a much more useful description. 3) Please, please, please… Don’t copy route descriptions directly out of guidebooks, online publications, etc. This is plagiarism! Remember, BEYOND the guidebook! 4) Please use the spell check and make an effort to use correct grammar.
Again, the Mountainproject community truly appreciates the efforts taken to make good route descriptions. If you feel that a route or area description is not up to standard, a brief email to one of the area admins for suggestions on improvement will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to make the New Mexico section of Mountain Project quality! We look forward to seeing you out there!
Katie Goins leading the Nose.
Description
A stand-out crack on the lower NW prow of the Citadel. This pitch makes an excellent start to the NW ridge route. The crux is the clean, slightly leaning crack, which requires a thin hands/finger sized move to gain a small ledge. Ignore the poot slings on the ledge and continue up the crack system on steep but easier face climbing. The angle then eases up and you can belay anywhere on the spacious ledge which is also the top of Finger Zinger.
Location
The prominent crack is easy to spot, on the NW buttress of the Citadel. It's one of the first climbs visible from the approach. The start is around the corner from Finger Zinger slightly on the western face.
Protection
Standard alpine rack will suffice, and having some cams in the finger/small-hand size is good for the crux.