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To repay the debt owed for the adventure up Pyramid Peak on our last climb, I agreed to join Chris to tackle Capitol. This would be a long weekend, with the hike in to Capitol Lake at 11,560' alone constituting 3,000' elevation gain and six miles. We headed out of Denver at 10:30 Saturday morning and arrived at the town of Snowmass around 3:00pm. The road here isn't marked as 'Snowmass Creek Road', but is 28 miles from Glenwood Springs. Arriving at the trailhead, Capitol taunts from 7 miles away and looks improbable (photo on the right). It was hot before we even started the 500' descent to the Capitol Creek Trail. Right away we were greeted with fresh horseshit, which didn't relent for the entire hike to the lake. As the day progressed, it became increasingly hot. This approach is long with a full pack, and it took us 3 hours to reach the campsites.
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The intermittent views of Capitol on the approach were incredible. Finally arriving near the lake, there are several choices for a campsite. Most of the areas were full, and we found it interesting how many people were here to attempt the peak. We ran into several people, of which about half had turned around at K2 earlier that day. We set up camp on a high knoll, which was the only site available, but not the best choice, as a passing lightning storm that evening would verify. The approach up Daly Pass is fairly obvious and highly visible from near the lake (photo on left). This is a very gentle trail in comparison to the approach up to Pyramid's talus moraine, switching back up to the boulder field to approach K2. Just after pumping some water at the lake before sunset, we trudged back up to the knoll and it began raining. We put in for the night around 8:30, allowing for a decent night of sleep before our undertaking on Sunday.
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Rising at dawn, we could make out a few parties making their way up Daly Pass with headlamps. It was somewhat chilly, though I warmed up once we were moving. At the top of Daly Pass, the trail continues for a hundred feet or so, and then enters a dirt and scree gully. It is important to descend this gully until some cairns are visible on ledges to the right. It wasn't necessary to descend all the way down the gully. A long traverse to the south that slowly loses elevation brought us to the base of the boulder field, where some cairns are visible to the western side of the center. The last thing anyone would want to do here in the interest of taking the most expedient route is try to traverse near the ridgeline. It seems counterintuitive to lose all of the elevation gained from Daly pass, but that is precisely what needs to happen. In the photo on the right, the best line is to continue straight towards the right side of the snowfield.
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It took about two hours from camp to reach the end of the boulder field. There are some more cairns marking the route up through talus and slabs. The best route is to continue straight to the base of the snowfield. From here, K2 comes into view to the west (photo on left). This is a 90 degree right turn from the boulder field. There is some pleasant slab hiking for a good portion of the route to K2. It then is a mellow talus hike similar to a lot of the Sawatch range to get to K2. Capitol comes into view again for the first time since the Capitol Creek Basin. The views of Snowmass and the rest of the Elks are fabulous. There was a guided party in front of us roping up to ascend K2. |
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Not knowing any better, we followed their route and descended down the west side of K2 from the summit. This wasn't terribly exposed, though there was a move that was an incredible stretch to reach good footing, which entailed a three or four foot slide facing in on a slab. In the photo on the right, the remainder of the route up Capitol rears in earnest as seen from K2. This is where many people opt to return to camp. The first section of ridge is fairly straightforward, and not too bad if you don't look down the south face of K2 (this is a vertical drop about 1,000' down). You can actually walk past this area, and scrambling only begins again at a section to traverse onto the knife-edge. I didn't feel like contemplating about the ridge traverse, and just wanted to get it over with.
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At first, I tried to do as the guidebooks say, grabbing the top and walking with feet underneath (photo of knife-edge on left). On the left side of the edge I tried out this method, and soon found myself searching for footholds to no avail, with a near vertical drop behind me. With my bulky Sportiva boots, smearing was not going to happen. I quickly traversed back to the start of the knife-edge and settled for the straddling method. This was much less intimidating, though the knife-edge is sharp and bad on the knees. I would recommend a cup for those of the male persuasion. I was able to walk under the edge for most of the ridge, but at least 30'of it seemed too dangerous for my liking. Another section of knife-edge is about 300' farther down, and this one can be walked under easily on the right side. Finally onto the peak proper, the route didn't improve. While it is well marked with cairns, it is highly reminiscent of Pyramid, with a lot of exposed traverses on ledges with loose rock aplenty.
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After reaching a brief end to the ledge madness, we came upon a steep gully (photo on the right). This section was pretty sketchy, as the rock was incredibly loose. We found a narrow area to traverse to the south side on, and a traverse back north and finally south again brought us to another ledge system that wound its way to the East Ridge. It is important to notice at this point to actually start climbing the ridge itself, as the route heads up and begins another traverse, this time to the west, and trail becomes visible in brief sections. A few more class 4 moves put us on the final approach to the summit. This peak requires a good set of nerves, but I would rate it slightly easier than Pyramid in difficulty if the Knife-edge and hike-in from Capitol Peak were not considered.
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On the summit, we stayed long enough to rest and get some pictures. The ascent from K2 took an hour and a half. The descent was as difficult or more difficult than the ascent, and required some awkward moves. Back at the knife-edge, a party was roping up at the other end and hadn't moved for 45 minutes. We asked if we could pass by and they said "sure" but they didn't move, even though they were on easy ground. We had to make some undesirable moves to get around them ~ whatever. The hike down and out took longer than the ascent, which is always a good indicator of the difficulty level. Arriving home at 11:00 pm, it had indeed been a long weekend, but every bit rewarding.
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