Trip Report:

 

Capitol Peak has been called Colorado's hardest and most striking fourteener, and it is certainly one I had been looking forward to.  I wasn't disappointed.

 

 

Mark and I met at the Capitol Creek trailhead on Tuesday and left for Capitol Lake under stormy skies.  We took the "ditch" trail as the other trail was closed due to a washed out bridge.  After three hours, six and a half miles, a few stream crossings, and dodging some cow patties we arrived at our campsite (#6) near the lake and pitched our tents.  We got our first look at the lake when we went up to filter drinking water.  The clear water and mirror-like reflections made for views that photographs couldn't capture.  This is without a doubt one of the most amazing places in Colorado.

 

 

After a viewing a spectacular lightning show over the Capitol Creek valley we went to bed with alarms set for 4AM.  By 4:40 we were leaving for the Capitol-Daly saddle by headlamp.  The trail to the pass is surprisingly great class 1 with plenty of short switchbacks.  At the pass we could see that we hadn't carried our axes for naught, as there were plenty of snowfields to cross before we reached K2.  We cached our poles and started talus hopping towards the snow.

 

 

By 7:30AM we were on top of K2 (13,664 ft) and greeted with intimidating views of our remaining route.  Ten minutes after leaving K2 we were faced with the crux of the route, the notorious 100-ft knife edge.  This is a horizontal stretch of ridge which has no easy passage, and ample exposure on both sides.  Mark led off first as I took pictures, then it was my turn.  Not a place you want to fall, but I found the scrambling here most enjoyable (on solid, dry rock).  Once again I have to give kudos to FiveTen for their super sticky Guide Tennie shoes.

 

 

Beyond the knife edge the route to the summit was tedious and slow, but for the most part we were able to keep the climbing to class 3 with good route finding.  There's plenty of loose Elk Range rock here, so we took our time and tried not to knock anything down.  At 8:40 AM we arrive at the summit for an ascent time of 4 hours.

 

 

Snowmass Mountain and it's connecting ridge (!!)

 

K2 from Capitol

 

We spent only 20 minutes on the summit before heading down.  We knew the route above K2 was no place to be if weather rolled in, and we'd been watching the clouds steadily build.  By 10:30 AM we were back across the knife edge and working our way up K2.  It's worth noting that the easiest way up and down the summit of K2 actually backtracks and descends *away* from Capitol.

 

Past K2 we knew the day's difficulties were over, but we stayed focused as we boulder hopped our way back towards the saddle.  Just before noon the weather we'd been watching finally arrived in the form of fairly heavy rain and light hail.  We'd kept our rain jackets near the top of our packs, so we managed to stay pretty dry for the short down pour.

 

The squall let up as quickly as it started, ending before we reached the meadows below the lake.  The wildflowers in the Capitol Lake valley were in full bloom, so we stopped and took pictures until our wrists got limp, then headed back to the tents to pack up camp. 

 

 

The hike out was pretty uneventful, with the exception of the stream crossing about half way to the trailhead.  Unable to find a downed tree across the stream, we employed a "trekking-pole-vault" technique with limited success.  We got a little wet, but it didn't matter because it rained for the last mile of the walk out.