The Citadel

The Citadel is a huge tower that has been on my list for years.  Last November Matt and I hiked out there and gave it a go.  I had just hurt my wrist and Matt's hip wasn't feeling great so we were a good team. 

Matt on Pitch 1.

 I left Farmington after getting off of work and met up with Matt in Cortez.  We drove out Onion Creek and hiked up the super cool canyon to the Mysteries.  I wasn't sure how hammering would feel on my wrist so Matt took the first pitch which was a line of beaks right off the ground.  As scary as it was to watch him lead the pitch while belaying, I'm sure it was even more scary to actually lead it!  Matt topped out P1 and I led the long second pitch to the shoulder.  The sun was starting to go down and as much as we wanted to push it to the summit we opted to rap and hike out.

Pitch 2 muddy crack.

 On the second day we hiked back in and jugged the fixed line back up to the top of pitch 2.  Matt was leading pitch 3 when he pulled off a microwave sized block 40' up.  It was nice that it was light for that and because pitch 3 wandered a bit and required some route finding.

Typical bolt.

 On the 4th pitch I wished we had another big cam but was able to make it to the short bolt ladder and the better rock making up the summit.

Summit!

 I was never really interested in climbing the Atlas in the Mysteries because it looks more like a big fin than a tower.  However after climbing the three obvious towers in the mysteries(Doric, Gothic Nightmare and Citadel), Atlas and the Hydra are looking more appealing...

Gothic Nightmare on the left and the Citadel on the right.