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Capitol Peak (14130') - Trip Report

        From: Alan Silverstein
        Date: Thu, 4 Sep 86 15:07:00 MDT
        Subject: Re: Trip reports:  Pyramid and Capitol
        Newsgroups: hpnc.general

        Sunday, August 17 - Monday, August 18:  Capitol Peak (14130')

        Saturday  night,  later  than  hoped, I drove  west out of Aspen
        heading for Old Snowmass.  Nowadays this junction is little more
        than   a   gas   station.  It's   1.8   miles   south   to   the
        Snowmass/Capitol  fork, then 8.5 miles SW to the  trailhead, NOT
        7.5  miles as  indicated  by the  climbing  guide.  The last 3.3
        miles is rough dirt, and the last 0.8 miles is virtually 4WD.  I
        talked  my Datsun  into  making  the run up the road in the dark
        about  11pm, not sure if I was  going  the  right  way.  Finally
        found a flat spot under  moonlit aspen trees and crashed next to
        the car, dead tired.

        Sunday morning I awoke to discover the trailhead sign just fifty
        feet away, surrounded by pretty aspen trees and good weather.  I
        packed up slowly and then started DOWN to Capitol Creek at 1120.
        The map posted at the  trailhead  shows a new trail that  avoids
        the 400' drop to the creek, but others I spoke with warned me it
        was mainly  bushwhacking.  So I  descended  to 9000' and crossed
        the creek.

        Soon thereafter I took a wrong turn.  There's a bold trail going
        too  far SE, but it  looked  right  for the  first  mile.  After
        discovering  my  error I had to  bushwhack  W and SW back to the
        main trail, losing about 100', but coming across some deer.  Not
        an auspicious start!

        The  correct  trail up to  Capitol  Lake at 11600' is one of the
        best I've  seen.  It's a long  hike, but  pretty,  with the peak
        prominent  as a great gray ridge at the head of the valley.  The
        trail is  mainly  dirt  and few  rocks,  and it  passes  through
        meadows  and  forests.  There was a little  uncleared  avalanche
        debris, but not enough to get frustrated.  I reached the lake at
        1640 -- it took me 5:20 to  backpack  6.5  miles  (7 my way) and
        gain 2700' (including my mistake).  I took a pleasant  boots-off
        break in a pretty meadow for a half hour on the way up.

        At Capitol Lake the mountain is a magnificent  mass commanding a
        quarter of the horizon, rising cliff-upon-cliff, grey and sheer,
        to the  left.  The lake is just  above  the last of  timberline,
        very  blue  and  alpine,  surrounded  by  rocks  and  wildflower
        meadows.  It's a lovely  place.  I found a spot to deck out on a
        tarp (no  tent)  near the lake on a  tree-covered  hill.  Then I
        went to meet the neighbors.

        One fellow gave me a lengthy  description of the climbing route,
        which was very helpful.  The only people I met who were planning
        a climb the next day were a couple of  inexperienced  Texans.  I
        wasn't sure  whether to join them  (rather than climb  alone) or
        talk them out of it.  I guess I did more of the latter...

        Sunday night was beautiful,  cool and moonlit.  From my sleeping
        bag I could  see the bulk of the K2 -  Capitol  Peak  knife-edge
        ridge high above me.  This was not conducive to relaxing  sleep!
        I'd spent years hearing about,  anticipating,  and even dreading
        the infamous Capitol ridge, the only  non-technical  approach to
        the mountain.

        Monday  morning I headed up alone at dawn,  0545,  from  11500'.
        The red glow of sunrise  half an hour later made the  clouds and
        the peak a  memorable  scene.  It only took 45  minutes to reach
        the Daly - K2 saddle at 12480' on a steep but well-used trail.

        From there I followed  cairns high around the back of the ridge.
        Staying high means commuting across a steep, slab-rock,  exposed
        route on ledges and cracks for several hundred yards.  I'd heard
        that  getting  to K2 was tough, and it was.  It is better -- and
        probably no slower -- to drop a couple  hundred  feet below this
        section, as I did on the return.

        Past the cliffs there are rolling slopes of large boulders which
        are easy climbing back to the main ridge.  Here I  experienced a
        surprising equipment failure -- broke the spike on my brass belt
        buckle  -- had to tie my belt on for the rest of the  trip,  and
        going home too (who packs a spare belt buckle?).  Nonetheless, I
        continued  up the  ridge,  now  looking  over the west side down
        steep cliffs to Capitol Lake.  A very airy feeling.

        I reached the summit  cone of K2, 13664', at 0800.  On advice, I
        found a  cairned  traverse  around  the west  side  rather  than
        climbing  up and back  down the  steep  peak.  I still  went too
        high;  you can't  see the rest of the  ridge  from  there.  Once
        around  K2 you  see  Capitol's  summit  and  the  start  of  the
        infamous, over-rated, much-maligned knife edge ridge.

        From below you can see it's a long  straight  ridge with  cliffs
        below  it.  Standing  on it, it's not that long or scary.  It IS
        hard to get a good photo of it.  Well, you start  walking  along
        on a flat  section,  then get into  more  traversing  below  the
        ridgetop  on ledges or trails,  often  holding  the very top for
        safety.

        The worst section is about 100' long, sheer slab granite on both
        sides,  simpler  than  most  of  it.  It's  more a  mental  than
        physical  challenge.  There's only about a 5' stretch  where you
        must  tiptoe the ridge or  straddle  it (as I did).  The rest of
        the way there are cracks on at least one side which  permit  you
        to walk  along  the  side,  holding  the top, and  it's not that
        horrible.  Sure, if you drop  something, it's gone, but there is
        rock below  you, and the faces are only 50  degrees  steep,  not
        vertical.

        After the pointiest  part, the ridge is wider and more  complex.
        It's fast and  comfortable  to walk  along,  either  the top, or
        switching sides, on a trail.  You start up the main summit, then
        follow cairns left around the east side.  The last 400' or so is
        up steep loose rock, but nothing  remarkable.  You follow a well
        cairned  ledge  and  crack  route on  crumbly  but  pretty  good
        granite,  SE,  then S, then  SW.  I  caught  the low  end of the
        summit ridge and crossed along it to the very top, at 0908 (3:25
        from  camp to climb  2630';  only one hour  from K2  across  the
        ridge).

        The summit is a small  ridgetop with  boulders, a flat area, and
        wonderful  precipitous drops.  There is pretty, translucent grey
        rock and a vein of garnet (?)  and purplish quartz right on top.
        Early  morning  clouds had burned off,  leaving  high cirrus and
        bright  sun, cool and  breezy at 49  degrees  F.  I was alone on
        top, and it was  magnificent!  Snowmass  Mountain is three miles
        east, and  beyond  that are the other Elk Range  Fourteeners  --
        Pyramid,  Castle,  then North Maroon and Maroon Peak more to the
        right.

        Two people eventually  arrived from a different  starting point.
        We joined up for the trip back across the ridge, which netted me
        a  good  picture  of  people  right  on the  worst  part.  After
        crossing K2 just for the  challenge,  we split up and I returned
        alone to  camp.  Well,  not  exactly,  I met the  Texans  at the
        12480'  saddle and spent a half hour  chatting with them.  Total
        return time was 3:25, from 1055 to 1420.

        After breaking camp, I made the long, hot, and painful pack trip
        back  out.  The last  400'  climb to the  trailhead  was hell on
        tired legs and  blistered  toes, even after a soak in the creek.
        The cows, flies, and mosquitos  weren't friendly either.  But it
        took me  only  3:20,  from  1530 to  1850.  I  figure  my  total
        elevation gain in two days was 5830'.

        Later  that  night I found a cheap  motel in Basalt in the rain,
        and decided the next morning to come home rather than pick up El
        Diente.  Consequently that will be my last Fourteener of the 54,
        hopefully this coming weekend.

This article used with permission of the author.

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