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The Citadel Rock Climbing

Climbing Area Map This is our best guess at this area's location.
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Routes in The Citadel

L › R R › L A › Z

	Candyland T 5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
	Central Sweden T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b R
	Eliminator, The T 5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b
	Heart Of Norway T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b
	Picadilly Circus T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b
	Sanitarium T 5.8+ 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
	Stonewalled T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b
	Storming the Castle T 5.11d 7a 24 VIII 25 E5 6a
	Sunset Dihedral T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
	Woke a Dope T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a PG13

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GPS:	40.4032, -105.5182 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
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Shared By:	jason seaver on Feb 24, 2002
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Access Issue: 2024 Partial Seasonal Raptor Closures lifted 7/21/24 Details

From the Denver Post 7/21/24: some of the raptor closures have been lifted, officials announced.

Upper & Lower Twin Owls, Rock One, The Book and access trail, Bookmark, and Left Book were opened based on a park new release.

Closures have been extended for Thunder Buttress, access trail, The Parish, Cathedral Wall.

Closures above the Loch Vale-Sky Pond trail have been extended.

Per Brent Frazier: the raptor closures have been lifted in the Lumpy Ridge and Loch Vale Areas ( nps.gov/romo/raptor-closure…)

Each year, Rocky Mountain National Park initiates temporary closures in certain areas of the park to ensure that birds of prey will be undisturbed during their breeding and nesting seasons. These closures begin on February 15 and continue through July 31, if appropriate. Monitoring by park staff and volunteers have determined that all remaining closures can be lifted on July 28, 2023.

Per Matt Coghill: the Golden eagle nesting activity has extended Lumpy closures through Aug. 15, 2022 on Sundance, Thunder Buttress, and Needle Summit!

Per A.Eaton: the raptor closures have been lifted as of 6/4/2022 at Lumpy for the following formations:

Twin Owls
Rock One
Batman Rock
Batman Pinnacle
Checkerboard
Lightning Rock

Per the Denver Post: as of Feb. 15, 2022, Checkerboard Rock, Lightning Rock, Batman Rock, Batman Pinnacle, Sundance, Thunder Buttress, The Parish, Bookmark Pinnacle, The Left Book, Bookmark, Twin Owls, Rock One, and the Needle are closed for raptor nesting. These closures will continue through July 31, 2022 if needed.

All areas [were] OPEN to climbing for the 2021 post July season.

Closures ending July 31:
Batman Rock, Batman Pinnacle, Lightning Rock, Checkerboard Rock - nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/…
Sundance - nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/…
The Book Area: Left Book, The Bookmark, Bookmark Pinnacle, and the entire Book formation (including Renaissance Wall, Isis Buttress, Pages Wall Area, and J-Crack Slab Area)- nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/…
Thunder Buttress and The Parish - nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/…
Twin Owls and Rock One - nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/…
Cathedral Wall - nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/…

When closed, the closures include the named rock formations and the areas surrounding the base of the formation. This includes all climbing routes, outcroppings, cliffs, faces, ascent and descent routes, and climber's access trails to the formation.

Areas not listed are presumed to be open. These closures will be lifted or extended as conditions dictate.

Description

The Citadel is the large, dome-shaped crag that sits above The Pear. It's most striking feature is a large, right-facing dihedral at two thirds height in approximately the center of the cliff. This corner is the second pitch of the crag's prize route: Heart Of Norway - 5.10c. It's a very rarely visited crag mostly because of its somewhat remote location and lack of 3-star routes, but I highly recommend the hike if only for the superb Heart Of Norway. This route crosses purely good stone although there is some decomposed rock in other areas on the cliff. Heart Of Norway ends before the summit and requires a rappel back to the base, but the other routes top out and a simple walk-off North, then East give the descent.

Getting There

An excellent way to approach anything on The Citadel is to first climb a route on The Pear .If you go to the summit, rap 100 feet from the summit, off chain anchors, into a deep corridor. Scramble west, then north, then east toward the Citadel which is obvious at this point. Some low-angle slabs guard the start of most of the routes which require some 4th class scrambling to negotiate. If you do any of the routes on the right side of The Pear to approach (which don't reach the summit), scramble down and east to the easiest walk-off north, then hike northwest to the base of the slabs below the start of The Citadel routes. Finally, to approach The Citadel w/o a Pear route, hike up to The Bookend, continue beneath it and beneath Lens Rock as well, then hike up a gully on Lens Rock's west side to a west-running access ledge that takes you to the base of most of The Citadel's routes above the low-angle slabs mentioned above.