West Ridge

This route is described in Dick Ingraham's guide as the NW ridge web.nmsu.edu/~amato/ingraha…. It involves some meandering and plenty of route-finding, which makes it exemplary of Organ Mountain climbing. Doubtless, there are scores of variations on this route, but most of them offer good climbing on decent rock. The overall character of the route is to find the path of least resistance. The first pitch scrambles up some easy ground on the west side of the Citadel, to the right of The Nose. Pitch 2 traverses left on the large ledge system taking you to the north side of the Citadel. Pitch 3-5 work up the ridge whichever way seems best. If you stay left from pitch 2, you end up doing more face climbing. One can easily end up facing a difficult move, or not having pro on this face, but there are many possible lines. The climbing eases closer to the top, becoming low-5th, or even 4th class for the last pitch. At the summit is a nice desert garden. Relax and read the summit register under the juniper tree.

There are some nice comfy belay ledges that stay shady most of the morning providing protection from the sun. However, protection from the wind, particularly west wind, is nonexistent. This is one of the windiest climbs in the Organs.

Start of the route is a short way up the side canyon between Citadel and Rabbit Ears Slabs to the west of it.

Descent to the north requires some scrambling/down-climbing. Scramble down off the summit and back to a small, exposed ledge on the north face over a 100' slab. Find the poot slings you have come across on your way up, and you can do a single rope rappel to gain a large ledge beneath the slabs. The east side of this ledge is a dirty gully which can be scrambled down. While you are scrambling down check out the cool roof system to your right, several harder lines exist.

Once out of the gully, you can head east under Glad We Came and take the trail down from Clem's Folly to the bottom of Rabbit Ears Canyon and use the canyon to get back to your packs (hopefully down close to the canyon bottom, not all the way under the rock). Or you can head back to the start by the shortest route possible, down and around the base of the Citadel. This is a true Organ Mountain bushwhack, however, with at least one false turn to the left more than likely.

Descent to the south: A pair of good bolts with chains is located on the southeast side of the summit plateau, to the left of the south rock pile. A single 60m rope is sufficient for the rappel. Bringing your walking shoes is recommended (for either descent). From the south rap, you will drop down into Rabbit Ears Canyon and walk all the way around Citadel to where you have left your packs (hopefully down close to the canyon and not all the way under the rock).

To reach the bottom of the canyon, go down the gully until it opens up and look for a large, dead tree. The trail goes just left of it. Continue down following largish rocks. Turn right under a slab and continue into the canyon.

Standard rack. Some topos show fixed pins and bolts, but depending on how you meander up to the top, you may not run across these.