Golden Bear Peak 13,010), Hagar Mountain (13,220), & The Citadel (13,294) by Brian Schultz Sunday September 18, 2011
Roundtrip mileage: ~8 mile loop route from Loveland Ski area, east side of Eisenhower Tunnel
Elevation gain: 3,700'
Participants: Jason Mayfield, Brian Schultz
Jason and I were both delayed in meeting because of an accident on the east side of the Eisenhower Tunnel. We were coming from opposite directions and it pushed our start back almost an hour to 8:55 AM, a potential problem from a weather standpoint but not today. Clear skies were in the forecast for the entire day. We parked off the road (Highway 6) across from the Loveland Ski Area parking lot just before the road turns up to Loveland Pass.
We walked through the parking lot and up the service road to the ski run above the tunnel. Despite the sunny morning it was quite cold as we ascended the grassy slopes to the basin below Golden Bear. It looked like we could've climbed either the left or right ridge to the summit ahead but we picked the right one and followed the snowy ridge to Golden Bear's summit, stopping often to take pictures before arriving on top at 10:55.
After a break we continued over lots of ridge bumps to the base of Hagar Mountain and enjoyed some class 3 climbing to reach its summit at 12:15. We apparently climbed slightly past the highest point and headed back to claim it before continuing on. We split up on the descent of the north ridge, Jason staying high and coming upon some class 4 scrambling with significant exposure, while I dropped down for a lower traverse. He said the ridge steepened to the point that it almost forced him to backtrack, whereas my traverse was rather easy. As we continued along the ridge we were excited to see The Citadel finally getting closer.
We reached the Citadel's base at 1:05 and took a fifteen minute break. Scrambling up to the west summit took just nine minutes but only one person at a time could sit on its tiny top. The view of Citadel's east summit is stunning from the western one. Our descent to the notch between the two summits was easy but the snow-filled chimneys below the eastern summit were a concern. The exposure wasn't bad but slipping could mean taking a ride down the long, steep snow-filled north gully.
Of the two 15' chimneys to pick from, we picked the one on the right. Climbing it wasn't any harder than class 3+ but it was challenging with the snow and I worried about descending it on the return. The difficulty eased above the chimney and after a short scramble we stepped on top at 1:48. We enjoyed the great views, especially of the western summit before leaving at 2:00. We kept the stay short because we didn't know how long the bushwhack to Dry Gulch would take.
The other snow-filled chimney looked easier for the descent so we ended up using it. The last move was an awkward step off the snow covered rocks. Jason slipped but caught his balance while I tried to make the long step down and couldn't make solid contact. In dry conditions it would've been easy but with that pesky snow-filled north gully I didn't want to risk slipping. After a few more attempts I finally just grabbed Jason's extended hand for support and jumped.
We descended the snow-free south side of the notch and found very manageable terrain below the east summit. At the bottom of the ridge, we bushwhacked on both sides the creek, following hit and miss game trails, and finally reached the old road in Dry Gulch. It was an easy walk along the frontage road paralleling I-70 and we arrived at our vehicles at 5:10.
Parking area to Golden Bear- 2 hours
Golden Bear to Hagar Mtn- 1 hour 5 minutes
Hagar Mtn to West Citadel- 1 hour 15 minutes
West Citadel to East Citadel- 20 minutes
East Citadel to parking area- 3 hours 10 minutes
Start to finish- 8 hours 15 minutes