Capitol Peak

Many years ago my office scheduled a group outing to climb Capitol Peak. I had other commitments and was unable to join them on their climb. Since then it's always been that peak that maybe I would try and climb later when I had nothing else to do. I had put it on my schedule in 2021, but changed destinations at the last minute because rescue teams were working on a recovery and requested that climbers avoid the ridge as rockfall had already injured two of the rescue team.

I put out a request for partners to climb Capitol Peak in July 2022 but as the date approached, two dropped out due to the weather forecast, and the other two decided to go a day earlier for a better forecast, leaving me without a partner and potentially poor climbing conditions. I was planning on trying again in early August, but an opportunity to climb North Maroon Peak materialized so I postponed again.

I finally made it to the trailhead for the first time in mid August, hoping to hook up with other climbers while hiking. I backpacked from a starting elevation of 9,450' six and a half miles up to Capitol Lake at 11,500'. Not too bad of a hike once the cows got out of the way, but it started raining a couple miles before the lake. Nothing hard, but after a while I finally realized I was soaked. Thankfully it stopped as I reached the lake, but there were no campsites to be found. Luckily several of the sites were large and I was able to set up on the unused side of one.

I made dinner and set my alarm for 3:00 a.m. Unfortunately, it was raining lightly when my alarm went off, so I had the pleasure of turning it off and rolling over for some more sleep. Once the sun and I rose I saw some random blue sky with lots of clouds. I decided I would scout the trail out since I knew it was much too late to try and reach the summit before the anticipated rain.

I hiked up to the pass above the lake at 12,500', then worked my way up the valley, losing and re-finding the trail several times. Next time I will at least know where the trail is and won't have to spend time searching. After several hours of climbing I met a couple coming back down who informed me that it was at least another hour to "K2" at the beginning of the infamous Knife Edge. They said the weather was starting to turn, but also encouraged me to go as far as K2 as the views were great. I decided to turn around, as that would put me on the ridge at the same time the weather was expected.

When I returned to my campsite I discovered that everyone else had left; I now had four campsites to myself. I debated leaving early, but really didn't want to have to hike in the rain again. I decided I'd try climbing again in the morning, even if it meant hiking out late. Surprisingly, it didn't start raining until after dinner as I crawled into my tent, but this time it was the hard drenching rain. I found myself staring at the tent fly repeating "Don't leak, don't leak!" It was still raining at 3:00 a.m., so again I enjoyed turning off the alarm and going back to sleep.

In the morning I experienced the advantages of camping alone—there was a deer in my campsite, and a pack of coyotes somewhere above me. I did discover that some campers had abandoned a tent and a couple sleeping bags, so I strapped them onto my pack as well and started my hike out.

The trail was very muddy, so I was very careful as slipping in the mud with a full pack would not have ended well. A couple miles before the trailhead a couple hikers heading up informed me they had seen a mama bear and a two cubs just a mile back. They would probably have moved on by the time I got there, but to be alert. I had my camera out and ready, but the only thing I caught was the beginning of another rain storm. So I had a nice hike and camping trip, despite the rain and aborted climbs. Maybe next weekend the weather will be nicer...

As I was driving out, my phone alerted me to flash flood warnings, and with the mudslide on Independence Pass on my mind from a couple weeks ago, I drove down to Glenwood Springs to take I-70 back home, but discovered that CDOT had just closed I-70 through Glenwood Canyon due to the flooding risk. The official detour was north through Steamboat Springs (4 hours / 230 miles) and I knew many would choose to detour over Independence Pass (3 hours / 125 miles). I decided to take Cottonwood Pass (1.5 hours / 37 miles), as I had read about that option last year, a route that many locals used when Glenwood Canyon was closed. Google was no help, however, as it couldn't connect the roads, and there is another Cottonwood Pass down by Buena Vista.

I returned to Capitol Lake the weekend following my rainout, but with a much better forecast. I had requested partners online again, and got a response the morning I left. Brent was going to start at the trailhead and meet me at the trail junction by the lake at 3:30 a.m.

When I met Brent I found that he had also connected with Sara, Derek, and Shane, so we had a nice group as we headed up the trail. We started up the trail to the saddle 1,000' above getting to know one another. As the route description states: that's the end of the easy trail hiking. At the saddle we ran into another couple whose headlamps we had seen ahead, returning because they couldn't find the trail across the gully just past the saddle. Since I had discovered the route across the gully the previous weekend during my scouting hike, I led the way for both groups.

There looked to be about five groups of hikers based on the headlamps as everyone was making their way up the talus-filled valley. No defined trail exists, with cairns seemingly in every direction. Of course, in the dark, you can't link up multiple cairns to get a sense of the route. We took a short break just as the sky was starting to lighten. The timing was nice as the valley turns and K2 comes into view for the first time, so we had enough light to see it.

K2 is the informal name given to the high point on the ridge. (Climbers' humor: K2 is the second highest peak in the world behind Mt. Everest.) As we approached K2, we discovered that yesterday's rain had frozen on the rocks. Anything that had not received direct sunlight was liable to be ice covered and slick. The route traverses around the side of K2 but many climbers go over the top to enjoy the views. Brent scrambled to the top, but then returned back reporting that the descent on the other side was ice covered.

As we rounded K2, Capitol Peak finally came into view. From here, the route is Class 4 with extreme exposure. While the summit is only half a mile away, it is also two hours away.

Even though most of the ice had melted, the rock was still cold. We took 45 minutes to cross the quarter mile "Knife Edge" section that many consider the crux or hardest part of the climb. But we all agreed that the summit face after the Knife Edge is more difficult—multiple routes, loose rocks, and just as much exposure.

At one point Shane was ahead of us and stepped on a suitcase sized rock that then broke free and started tumbling hundreds of feet down to the valley below. Shane jumped off and hugged the mountain as every conversation stopped while witnessing the near disaster. That convinced Brent and I to climb directly up to and then along the ridge to the summit. This had much more exposure but is on solid rock and avoids the loose scree, dirt, and talus "trail" that Shane and the rest of the group were on.

Both Brent and Sara had climbed Capitol Peak before, and both said that this time was more difficult. The ice and cold rocks made every move a little more deliberate, using a little more energy, which added up over the course of the climb. But now was the time to celebrate. Cameras came out, snacks were opened, and everyone took a deep breath—well, as deep as you can at 14,000' above sea level where all the oxygen is somewhere down below.

Brent had a GoPro, so he started taking video of us on the summit, then, descending the face, along the ridge, crossing back across the Knife Edge, and crossing K2. Once safely back in the valley below K2, everyone else wanted to hurry back to the lake, break camp, and hike back to the trailhead. I told them I was okay with them going on ahead as I was going to camp another night and not hike out until tomorrow. I took my time hiking down, complete with a few snowflakes as I crossed the saddle again.

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